EasyJet becomes 1st UK airline to fly to exciting destination in North Iceland

UK's low-cost carrier easyJet is set to start a new route to Iceland as a part of its upcoming winter project.

Headquartered at London Luton Airport, easyJet has unveiled a total of nine new routes from the UK to various destinations, including France, Morocco, Tunisia, and an exciting new Icelandic connection: Akureyri (AEY).

Northern Iceland

In partnership with its tour subsidiary, easyJet Holidays, the airline is set to offer a package for British travellers to have a unique experience across North Iceland. Direct flights will be available from easyJet's base at London Gatwick Airport (LGW) twice a week, launching on Oct. 31, according to Simple Flying.

Called "The Capital of the North", Akureyri lies in the fjord Eyjafjörður in North Iceland and is located a short drive from many of Iceland's top natural, cultural and historical attractions, including viewing the Northern Lights, apart from whale watching, hiking and geothermal bathing at the Myvatn Nature Baths. These thermal baths are a set of geothermally heated pools and steam baths found in the Lake Mývatn area.

Other new routes

In addition, easyJet will also launch new connections from Birmingham to the French cities of Lyon and Paris from Oct. 30. This move has come keeping in mind the West Midlands and beyond, ahead of opening its new base at Birmingham (BHX) in early 2024.

The UK carrier also has plans for an additional route from London Southend to Paris Charles de Gaulle. A new weekly service from Manchester to Grenoble is also set to begin, which will likely appeal to ski enthusiasts looking for a short break on the slopes.

London-based easyJet is also gearing up to introduce new services between London Luton and Enfidha, Tunisia and from Bristol to Marrakech, Morocco.

Meanwhile, easyJet will also be boosting the domestic circuit further with two new routes set to begin from Southampton to Glasgow and Belfast on Oct. 29, with departures up to three times a week during peak season.

Earlier this year, easyJet introduced 11 new routes from the UK to different European destinations ahead of the summer. Continuing its recent European network expansion, which will see easyJet operate its biggest-ever UK summer flying programme, tickets for all nine new routes for winter are now on sale.

In the ongoing summer, easyJet's new routes include a year-round route between Manchester and Paris Orly for weekdays, which came into operation in March. Other additions are London Luton to Izmir in Turkey, Glasgow-Lisbon, Birmingham-Naples and Southend-Amsterdam, as well as the return of the Gatwick-Ancona route.

Ali Gayward, easyJet's UK Country Manager, said that the launch of the nine new routes "demonstrates our confidence in the resilient strength of demand for travel in the UK, with customers choosing us for our trusted brand, unrivalled network and great value fares and we can't wait to welcome more customers on board."

"We are delighted to be launching even more new routes and holidays from the UK across a fantastic range of destinations which provides even more choice and variety for our customers this winter, including flights and holidays to Akureyri in North Iceland for the very first time, with a unique route from the UK," added Gayward.

EasyJet is believed to be flying around eight per cent more capacity than pre-pandemic with over one million more seats in peak summer and 23 new routes from the UK.

The last two financial quarters have been great economically for the budget airline, and easyJet has remained optimistic amid increasing passenger demand and rising fare prices. Like its UK-based low-cost and full-service competitors, the carrier predicts robust summer travel.

In order to keep backing its growth plans, easyJet is close to opening its ninth UK base in Birmingham in March 2024. As many as three easyJet Airbus A320 family aircraft will be permanently stationed at the West Midlands airport ahead of summer 2024.