easyJet has announced it will resume flying to almost three quarters of its route network by August. The airline is also launching its biggest ever summer sale* with over one million flights to holiday destinations across Europe on offer from only £29.99 for travel between 1 July and 31 October 2020.
easyJet plans to fly 50% of its 1022 routes in July and 75% in August, although with a lower frequency of flights equating to around 30% of normal July to September capacity. This will include flying to and from all our UK bases across July and August to a wide selection of destinations for their summer holidays.
Although there will be fewer flights on offer, customers will have the choice of flights to domestic, city and beach destinations including the city staples of Paris, Milan and Rome; summer sun favourites the Balearics and Canary Islands; lively and culturally rich hotspots in Italy, Croatia and Portugal; and even further afield to exotic destinations, Egypt and Morocco.
Robert Carey, Chief Commercial and Planning Officer at easyJet said: “We are delighted to announce that we will be flying the majority of our route network across Europe, meaning customers can still get to their chosen destination for their summer holidays this year.
“We’re passionate about helping our customers get back flying, which is why we’re offering one million seats at £29.99 for those planning on booking a holiday this summer. Travel restrictions are being lifted and demand is starting to return, so there’s no better time for us to introduce this sale.”
The airline has confirmed that some flights will initially resume from the 15 June including from London Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast in the UK.
easyJet has also announced it has teamed up with superhero illustrator to create comic book inspired face mask covers for children flying this summer. Irish artist Will Sliney, best known for his work on Marvel comics Spider-Man and Star Wars, has created a range of new comic book inspired face mask covers for young easyJet flyers. The new comic book face mask covers have been designed to help ease the experience for both kids and parents.
A new range of additional measures will be in place to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of all customers and crew onboard. These include enhanced aircraft disinfection for easyJet aircraft; customers, cabin and ground crew will be required to wear masks; there will also initially be no food service onboard flights, all of which operate on a short-haul network.
The measures have been implemented in consultation with aviation authorities ICAO and EASA, and in line with relevant national authorities and medical advice through the airline’s chief medical adviser.
NEW MEASURES:
AIRCRAFT CLEANING:
The additional cleaning and disinfection procedures for aircraft cabins are on top of an existing daily aircraft cleaning schedule. Every aircraft will be subject to a daily disinfection process which provides surface protection from viruses that lasts for at least 24 hours.
ON BOARD MEASURES:
All passengers and crew will be required to wear masks onboard at all times. Initially when flights restart, the Bistro and Boutique service will not be available. Furthermore, all flights will be equipped with spare sanitary equipment including masks, gloves and hand sanitiser to ensure these are available to customers and crew at all times onboard, if required. easyJet’s aircraft are already fitted with state of art filtration technology. High efficiency particle arresting filters filter 99.97% of airborne contaminants in the cabin, including viruses and bacteria. These filters are the same as those used in hospitals and through them the cabin air gets replaced every 3-4 minutes.
AIRPORT MEASURES:
To protect customers and ground crew in the airport, customers will be able to use our automated bag drop to check in their hold luggage and screens will be in place at our check in desks and at airports where auto bag drop is not available. Ground crew and cabin will not handle any customer documents during boarding so customers will be asked to present and scan their own documents. easyJet already encourages all customers to check in online and download their boarding pass onto their smart phone or to print their own boarding passes before arriving at the airport. Our ground crew will also wear gloves and masks at all times when transporting customer luggage to and from the aircraft.
Further recommendations for airports indicate there may also be measures in places at airports such as wearing masks, self-declaration health forms to be completed ahead of departure, and temperature screening. The airline is working with all airports where it operates to understand what measures will be in place to protect customers.
SOCIAL DISTANCING:
Customers will be able to practice social distancing in the airports, at gates and during boarding. Onboard, and where possible, crew will invite customers to sit at distance from customers not in their party where seats are available.
easyJet will continue to work with the relevant national authorities to review and assess what measures are required in the longer term.