Easyjet to increase flights on six Edinburgh and Glasgow routes

Scotland’s biggest airline to fly more often to Belfast, Bristol, Birmingham and Luton.

Easyjet is filling gaps left by the demise of Flybe. Picture: Herve Gousse.

The planned expansion from August is to help fill gaps caused by the demise of Flybe in March.

There will be an extra return flight between Glasgow and Belfast, Bristol, Birmingham and Luton.

There is speculation that a sixth aircraft and crew will be based at the airport, which Easyjet has earmarked as the focus of its expansion in Scotland, but the airline said there were “no current plans” for this.

Easyjet is Scotland's biggest airline. Picture: Gareth Fuller.

An extra return flight will also be added between Edinburgh and Birmingham and Bristol.

A spokesperson for the carrier said: “In a boost to UK connectivity, Easyjet is adding over 257,000 seats annually on routes once served by Flybe.

“From August, the capacity will be split across 13 UK-touching routes including nine domestics.

“The routes include Bristol to Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast; Manchester to Paris, Belfast and Amsterdam; Belfast to Birmingham; Birmingham to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and Luton to Glasgow.”

But Easyjet said there remained “no certainty” as to when it could resume flying after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Its spokesperson said: "We are working closely with local authorities and the relevant regulators to monitor the situation across Europe so we remain informed of when restrictions could change and when flying can resume.

“We anticipate this will be a minimal schedule at first, which will vary by country.

"In the meantime, we are maintaining our full fleet of aircraft in a flight-ready condition and putting accelerated procedures in place to ensure flights can resume quickly and safely.

“We continue to work closely with the European Aviation Safety Agency and other agencies to ensure we meet the necessary requirements for crew training as well as any additional health and safety measures that could be introduced to best protect our customers and crew.

“This will ensure we are in compliance with any new ways of operating ready for when flying resumes."

The airline announced today that passengers with bookings can now change them without charge to flights up to 4 May 2021.

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