Evidence of aviation’s new order landed at Gatwick today, with easyJet signing a “landmark” seven-year deal that could ultimately see the budget carrier evicting British Airways from its home at the airport’s north terminal.
EasyJet already flies 45% of the flights out of London’s second-biggest airport, with 57 aircraft operating 108 routes. However, they are split between Gatwick’s two terminals. Now the airport is consulting on shifting its airlines around to make easyJet the dominant airline in the north building, in the same way BA is at Heathrow’s terminal five.
The move could force BA to move to the smaller south terminal because large parts of the two carriers’ short-haul flight schedules overlap.
The rise of easyJet at the airport — just over the next 12 months it is ramping up passenger numbers by 10% to around 16.5 million — throws weight behind Gatwick’s campaign to be allowed to build a second runway, which it claims would create 19,000 new jobs by 2050.
Carolyn McCall, the budget carrier’s chief executive, said: “This agreement gives easyJet certainty on passenger charges over the next seven years and a clear incentive to continue to grow.”
EasyJet only launched its first flights from Gatwick in 1999, but it now has 1400 cabin crew and 700 pilots operating from the airport. It plans both to take over more slots and bring in larger aircraft as it replaces 156-seat A319s with 180-seat A320s.
The deal, which followed the decision of the UK airports regulator to allow Gatwick to strike agreements directly with airlines, was described by Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate as “landmark”.
Shares in easyJet slipped 8p to 1715p, although the company led the Footsie earlier this week after upgrading its first-half performance.
The airline expects its pre-tax loss to be as low as £55 million for the six months to April — a traditionally loss-making period for airlines that are focused on the summer holidays – against an earlier estimate of up to £90 million.
