EasyJet's five largest bases in order of size are London-Gatwick, Milan-Malpensa, London-Luton, London-Stansted and Bristol. Newcastle airport is currently the airline's smallest base but EasyJet still offers more flights and destinations from here than all the non-base airports it serves.
EasyJet flies in a point to point model rather than the more traditional airline hub and spoke model where the passengers have to change aircraft in transit at a major airport. EasyJet prefers to fly to larger or primary airports usually close to major cities. For example EasyJet flies to the main Düsseldorf airport, instead of Weeze, the secondary airport serving Düsseldorf. Primary airports are not always close to the city they serve and in fact can be further than the city's minor airport, this is the case at Belfast, Gothenburg and Rome and in these cases, EasyJet still prefer to serve the major airport. EasyJet does still serve some secondary airports including Belfast-City, London-Luton and Rome-Ciampino, but these cities have a major airport also served by EasyJet, so in no case does EasyJet fly to a secondary airport of a city without flying to a primary one.
EasyJet has 19 European 'bases'. Despite EasyJet being a British airline, and having a significant presence there, it has a significant presence in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and many other European countries. The United Kingdom is its biggest market, containing the airlines largest base and nine others as well as a total of six other non-base airports. Its three largest British bases in order of size are London's Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports.
EasyJet's largest competitor is Ryanair, which unlike EasyJet has a focus on smaller or secondary airports and in recent years, has started targeting holiday makers. EasyJet focuses heavily on business passengers but operates a greater varierty of holiday destinations than Ryanair. However, EasyJet has a very low presence at holiday destinations like Greece with limted frequencies and only a small number of airports to fly from. Ryanair's is much higher, especially at all of the Canary Islands and some Greek Islands, in particular Kos and Rhodes. Ryanair often refers to EasyJet as a high fares airline but EasyJet often criticises Ryanair for its choice of airports.
EasyJet is the largest operator of the Airbus A319.Subsidiary airline EasyJet Switzerland operates 17 Airbus A319 and two Airbus A320 aircraft under Swiss registrations, in addition to the above.The average age of the EasyJet fleet, at May 2011, is 3.7 years.EasyJet initially operated Boeing 737 aircraft exclusively. In October 2002, it broke with its previous philosophy of operating just one aircraft type by ordering 120 Airbus A319 aircraft, plus 120 options, with CFM56-5B engines.
EasyJet's Airbus A319 aircraft were first introduced to EasyJet's Geneva base in October 2003.Due to toilet and galley configuration allowing the installation of more seats than a standard Airbus A319, EasyJet's Airbus A319 aircraft have two pairs of overwing exits, instead of the standard one pair configuration found on most Airbus A319 aircraft, to satisfy safety requirements. EasyJet has 33 outstanding options with Airbus valid until March 2013 and 40 outstanding options and purchase rights valid until 2015, which may be taken as any member of the Airbus A320 family.EasyJet still operates the Boeing 737-700 from its London Luton base; however, beginning in December 2006, the airline started to return the Boeing 737-700 aircraft to their lessors. The Belfast base was converted to an A319 operation; the conversion finished in March 2010 with a total of 6 A319 aircraft. EasyJet plans to dispose of their entire Boeing 737 fleet by 2011.
Through the acquisition of GB Airways, EasyJet inherited nine Airbus A320 and six Airbus A321 aircraft. This gave the airline some time to evaluate the feasibility of operating these larger gauge aircraft. Based on this evaluation, EasyJet decided to swap 25 A319 orders for A320 in July 2008 and later remove the A321 aircraft from the fleet.Easyjet's head office is Hangar 89 (H89), a building located on the grounds of London Luton Airport in Luton, Bedfordshire; the hangar, a former Britannia Airways/TUI facility, is located 150 metres (490 ft) from EasyLand, the previous headquarters of EasyJet. Hangar 89, built in 1974, has 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of office space and can house three aircraft the size of an Airbus A319 or Boeing 737 at one time. When EasyJet received H89, it had a 1970s style office setup. EasyJet modernised the building and painted it orange.
Initially booking was by telephone only, with all EasyJet aircraft painted with the booking telephone number. There is no incentive for travel agents to sell EasyJet bookings because there is no commission, a standard practice for the low cost carriers.
In December 1997, Russell Sheffield of Tableau, one of EasyJet's design and adverting agencies, suggested to Stelios Haji-Ioannou that he should consider trialling a website for direct bookings. Haji-Ioannou's reply was "The Internet is for nerds, it will never make money for my business!". However Tony Anderson, EasyJet's marketing director, and Michael Coltman, EasyJet's business manager, saw the potential and approved a website trial involving putting a different telephone reservations number on the website, to track success. Once Haji-Ioannou saw the results he changed his mind, and EasyJet commissioned Tableau as partners to develop an e-commerce website capable of offering real-time online booking from April 1998—the first low cost carrier to do so in Europe.In December 2001, easyJet switched from a third-party reservation system to an in-house system designed and developed for them by BulletProof Technologies, Inc.Internet bookings were priced cheaper than booking over the phone, to reflect the reduced call centre costs and the aircraft were repainted with the web address. Within a year over 50% of bookings were made using the web site; by April 2004 the figure had jumped to 98%. Now, flights can only be booked over the Internet except during the 3 months immediately before the flight when telephone booking is also available.
EasyJet's aircraft cabins are configured in a single class, high density layout.The airline's main fleet, comprising the Boeing 737-700, Airbus A319 and Airbus A320-200, carry 149, 156 and up to 180 passengers respectively, depending on layout. A typical Airbus A319 carries approximately 140 passengers in a single class configuration, but as EasyJet do not serve meals on their shorter flights, the airline opted for smaller galleys and had a lavatory installed in unused space at the rear of the aircraft. The space saved by having smaller galleys allowed for the installation of 156 seats. Due to this seating arrangement, EasyJet's Airbus A319 aircraft have two pairs of overwing exits, instead of the standard one pair configuration found on most Airbus A319 aircraft, to satisfy safety requirements.
EasyJet does not provide complimentary meals or beverages on board its flights (apart for some occasional charter flights operated by the airline). Passengers may purchase items on board from the "EasyJet Bistro" buy on board programme.Products include sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, hot meals, chocolate, snacks, hot drinks, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Onboard sales are an important part of the airline's ancillary revenue. EasyJet also sells gifts such as fragrances, cosmetics and EasyJet branded items onboard, as well as tickets for airport transfer services or train tickets.
EasyJet have previously provided In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) on certain aircraft, using drop down screens on some Airbus aircraft. During some of 2009 and 2010 they also provided passengers with the ability to rent portable Sony media players with movies and games on selected flights. Due to little demand and customers choosing to bring in their own entertainment on tablet computers and media devices, these services were withdrawn during 2010. EasyJet have headphones available to purchase, along with a travel pillow and eyeshades, subject to stock. EasyJet provides an in-flight magazine, published monthly, containing articles of interest to its customers and destination guides. As of May 2010, easyJet has been selling copies of Hello Magazine, Top Gear Magazine, and The Sunday Times, all at cover price. The Times is also available onboard, at a price of £1.00. Subject to stock.
EasyJet flies in a point to point model rather than the more traditional airline hub and spoke model where the passengers have to change aircraft in transit at a major airport. EasyJet prefers to fly to larger or primary airports usually close to major cities. For example EasyJet flies to the main Düsseldorf airport, instead of Weeze, the secondary airport serving Düsseldorf. Primary airports are not always close to the city they serve and in fact can be further than the city's minor airport, this is the case at Belfast, Gothenburg and Rome and in these cases, EasyJet still prefer to serve the major airport. EasyJet does still serve some secondary airports including Belfast-City, London-Luton and Rome-Ciampino, but these cities have a major airport also served by EasyJet, so in no case does EasyJet fly to a secondary airport of a city without flying to a primary one.
EasyJet has 19 European 'bases'. Despite EasyJet being a British airline, and having a significant presence there, it has a significant presence in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and many other European countries. The United Kingdom is its biggest market, containing the airlines largest base and nine others as well as a total of six other non-base airports. Its three largest British bases in order of size are London's Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports.
EasyJet's largest competitor is Ryanair, which unlike EasyJet has a focus on smaller or secondary airports and in recent years, has started targeting holiday makers. EasyJet focuses heavily on business passengers but operates a greater varierty of holiday destinations than Ryanair. However, EasyJet has a very low presence at holiday destinations like Greece with limted frequencies and only a small number of airports to fly from. Ryanair's is much higher, especially at all of the Canary Islands and some Greek Islands, in particular Kos and Rhodes. Ryanair often refers to EasyJet as a high fares airline but EasyJet often criticises Ryanair for its choice of airports.
EasyJet is the largest operator of the Airbus A319.Subsidiary airline EasyJet Switzerland operates 17 Airbus A319 and two Airbus A320 aircraft under Swiss registrations, in addition to the above.The average age of the EasyJet fleet, at May 2011, is 3.7 years.EasyJet initially operated Boeing 737 aircraft exclusively. In October 2002, it broke with its previous philosophy of operating just one aircraft type by ordering 120 Airbus A319 aircraft, plus 120 options, with CFM56-5B engines.
EasyJet's Airbus A319 aircraft were first introduced to EasyJet's Geneva base in October 2003.Due to toilet and galley configuration allowing the installation of more seats than a standard Airbus A319, EasyJet's Airbus A319 aircraft have two pairs of overwing exits, instead of the standard one pair configuration found on most Airbus A319 aircraft, to satisfy safety requirements. EasyJet has 33 outstanding options with Airbus valid until March 2013 and 40 outstanding options and purchase rights valid until 2015, which may be taken as any member of the Airbus A320 family.EasyJet still operates the Boeing 737-700 from its London Luton base; however, beginning in December 2006, the airline started to return the Boeing 737-700 aircraft to their lessors. The Belfast base was converted to an A319 operation; the conversion finished in March 2010 with a total of 6 A319 aircraft. EasyJet plans to dispose of their entire Boeing 737 fleet by 2011.
Through the acquisition of GB Airways, EasyJet inherited nine Airbus A320 and six Airbus A321 aircraft. This gave the airline some time to evaluate the feasibility of operating these larger gauge aircraft. Based on this evaluation, EasyJet decided to swap 25 A319 orders for A320 in July 2008 and later remove the A321 aircraft from the fleet.Easyjet's head office is Hangar 89 (H89), a building located on the grounds of London Luton Airport in Luton, Bedfordshire; the hangar, a former Britannia Airways/TUI facility, is located 150 metres (490 ft) from EasyLand, the previous headquarters of EasyJet. Hangar 89, built in 1974, has 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of office space and can house three aircraft the size of an Airbus A319 or Boeing 737 at one time. When EasyJet received H89, it had a 1970s style office setup. EasyJet modernised the building and painted it orange.
Initially booking was by telephone only, with all EasyJet aircraft painted with the booking telephone number. There is no incentive for travel agents to sell EasyJet bookings because there is no commission, a standard practice for the low cost carriers.
In December 1997, Russell Sheffield of Tableau, one of EasyJet's design and adverting agencies, suggested to Stelios Haji-Ioannou that he should consider trialling a website for direct bookings. Haji-Ioannou's reply was "The Internet is for nerds, it will never make money for my business!". However Tony Anderson, EasyJet's marketing director, and Michael Coltman, EasyJet's business manager, saw the potential and approved a website trial involving putting a different telephone reservations number on the website, to track success. Once Haji-Ioannou saw the results he changed his mind, and EasyJet commissioned Tableau as partners to develop an e-commerce website capable of offering real-time online booking from April 1998—the first low cost carrier to do so in Europe.In December 2001, easyJet switched from a third-party reservation system to an in-house system designed and developed for them by BulletProof Technologies, Inc.Internet bookings were priced cheaper than booking over the phone, to reflect the reduced call centre costs and the aircraft were repainted with the web address. Within a year over 50% of bookings were made using the web site; by April 2004 the figure had jumped to 98%. Now, flights can only be booked over the Internet except during the 3 months immediately before the flight when telephone booking is also available.
EasyJet's aircraft cabins are configured in a single class, high density layout.The airline's main fleet, comprising the Boeing 737-700, Airbus A319 and Airbus A320-200, carry 149, 156 and up to 180 passengers respectively, depending on layout. A typical Airbus A319 carries approximately 140 passengers in a single class configuration, but as EasyJet do not serve meals on their shorter flights, the airline opted for smaller galleys and had a lavatory installed in unused space at the rear of the aircraft. The space saved by having smaller galleys allowed for the installation of 156 seats. Due to this seating arrangement, EasyJet's Airbus A319 aircraft have two pairs of overwing exits, instead of the standard one pair configuration found on most Airbus A319 aircraft, to satisfy safety requirements.
EasyJet does not provide complimentary meals or beverages on board its flights (apart for some occasional charter flights operated by the airline). Passengers may purchase items on board from the "EasyJet Bistro" buy on board programme.Products include sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, hot meals, chocolate, snacks, hot drinks, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Onboard sales are an important part of the airline's ancillary revenue. EasyJet also sells gifts such as fragrances, cosmetics and EasyJet branded items onboard, as well as tickets for airport transfer services or train tickets.
EasyJet have previously provided In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) on certain aircraft, using drop down screens on some Airbus aircraft. During some of 2009 and 2010 they also provided passengers with the ability to rent portable Sony media players with movies and games on selected flights. Due to little demand and customers choosing to bring in their own entertainment on tablet computers and media devices, these services were withdrawn during 2010. EasyJet have headphones available to purchase, along with a travel pillow and eyeshades, subject to stock. EasyJet provides an in-flight magazine, published monthly, containing articles of interest to its customers and destination guides. As of May 2010, easyJet has been selling copies of Hello Magazine, Top Gear Magazine, and The Sunday Times, all at cover price. The Times is also available onboard, at a price of £1.00. Subject to stock.
