Low fares airline expands in France

easyJet flight

[4th April 2008]

Budget airline easyJet is expanding in France as it opens a new base at Lyon airport and launches new flights to destinations including Venice, Marrakech and Lisbon.

The low cost airline says it is investing €600m over a four year period to strengthen its position as the largest low fares airline in France. In February easyJet opened another base in France, at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and it has ambitious plans to double the number of passengers it carries in France from 6 million in 2007 to 12 million in 2011.

"With a lost-cost penetration that is half the European average, France's air transport market still suffers from a lack of affordable, direct air links and therefore offers huge opportunities for easyJet,” comments easyJet chief executive, Andy Harrison.

Two new Airbus A319 aircraft will be based initially at Lyon Saint-Exupery airport and an investment of €80 million will create around 80 new jobs for pilots and cabin crew. easyJet is launching three new flights from Lyon today on routes to Bordeaux, Lisbon and Venice. Another new flight begins tomorrow from Lyon to Porto, followed by new flights to Toulouse, Casablanca and Marrakech in May, and to Biarritz in June.

easyJet now flies from 14 airports in France, including Paris Orly, Nice, Marseille and Nantes. It plans to launch a further 23 routes from French airports in the first half of this year.

In March rival low fares airline Ryanair announced it would start operating four flights a week from Beauvais airport north of Paris to Marignane airport near Marseille beginning in May.

Written by: Nick Purdom

 

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Low Fares Airline Expands In France