British low-cost airline easyJet has announced that it will open a new seasonal base at Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández International Airport (ALC) from spring 2024. It will be the company’s fourth in Spain and its thirtieth in Europe.
As highlighted in a press release, this will create around a hundred new jobs for the company’s employees. As usual in these cases, it will also lead to the creation of others indirectly.
See also: easyJet Expansion: Birmingham Becomes Ninth Base in UK
easyJet to increase its offer in Alicante
From the opening of the new base, the airline expects to offer 1.6 million seats to and from Alicante during the 2024 summer season. This would represent an increase of 16% compared to the planned offer for the same period in 2023. To this end, three 186-passenger Airbus A320s will be based at the airport.
The Spanish city is a popular holiday destination for British tourists, so the increased supply will allow the company to increase its share of the leisure travel market. During this year’s northern summer, easyJet will offer 1.4 million seats on eleven routes from Alicante.
“We are proud to announce another new seasonal base in Spain, a strategically important market where we continue to grow, boost tourism and create jobs“, said Javier Gándara, easyJet’s Country Director for Southern Europe. “Alicante is a very attractive destination and we believe that having a base offers great potential to expand our operations in the country, as well as allowing us to improve connectivity to and from the region“, he added.
The airline began operating in the city in 1999, when it launched services from London. Since then it has carried 27.5 million passengers to and from Alicante.
See also: easyJet eyes Turkey and opens flights to Istanbul
The seasonal base model
While easyJet’s bases in the United Kingdom, France and Italy operate year-round, the situation is different in Spain. The company currently has a hub in Barcelona (BCN), but its other two bases in the country, in Palma de Mallorca (PMI) and Malaga (AGP), are seasonal, so they are active between the end of March and the end of October.
The seasonal base model allows the airline to strengthen and expand its presence in certain destinations in accordance with the cyclical periods of the year with higher and lower demand for air travel that characterise air commercial activity in Europe.
