EasyJet celebrated its one-year anniversary at London Southend Airport yesterday, Tuesday 2ndApril, with passengers, staff and children from the local community who were invited to participate in a paper plane ‘origami master class’ and competition to mark the occasion.
A huge easyJet orange, origami paper plane (2m x 2m) was unveiled in the check-in area by easyJet’s UK Commercial Manager Hugh Aitken and London Southend Airport Managing Director Alastair Welch.
Hugh Aitken said: “There was a great atmosphere at the easyJet check-in desk – our origami plane was certainly eye-catching! The atmosphere was exactly what we wanted to create for all our passengers to say thank you for their continued support.”
EasyJet launched at London Southend on 2nd April 2012 with 10 holiday routes across Europe. During the airline’s first year it has continued to invest in the airport by launching an additional five routes. The airline’s destinations from London Southend will soon include links to additional business and leisure hubs such as Edinburgh (May), Berlin, Krakow and Newquay (June). Also in June, this investment will be strengthened by the arrival of a fourth aircraft to be based at London Southend Airport.
Hugh added: “It has been a monumental year for us; we have flown more than 700,000 passengers and have increased the destinations we operate to by more than 50%. We have made travelling easy for the 150,000 people of Southend and the surrounding areas across Essex and East London with affordable flights from as little as £26.49. Plus we have ensured our customers are the happiest at London Southend Airport out of all our bases securing an impressive 92% satisfaction rate. We are fully committed to London Southend Airport and have demonstrated this by investing heavily in new destinations. We’re keen to continue adding more varied routes to our schedule and over the coming week’s we’ll see inaugural flights to Edinburgh, Berlin, Krakow and Newquay take-off. Ultimately our long-term aim at London Southend Airport is simple; to expand our network, bring more competition and lower fares as well as opening up new markets to both our leisure and business travellers.”
Alastair Welch said: “It has been a fantastic first year with easyJet for all the team at Southend, and as recent figures showed our busiest ever. We think our unique promises to passengers – that they should wait no more than four minutes to go through security and that, on arrival with hand baggage, they are on the rail station platform within 15 minutes of leaving the aircraft – is what is driving more and more passengers to choose London’s newest airport. That is why we are currently extending the terminal to ensure that we continue to deliver these high standards of customer service as the airport grows.”
