Despite the very challenging times, easyJet has added two additional aircraft at Manchester for next summer, helping to increase seats for sale by a robust 10.9% over the last normal summer to 3.4 million. Expect more in the coming weeks.

easyJet in the UK: where's up and where's down?

Some 17 UK airports will comprise easyJet's UK network next summer, up by one over summer 2019 (S19). While London Southend ended as a base and has been removed, Belfast City and Newquay will both be served following their return in the summer just gone. Belfast City has just one route: Gatwick.

While Birmingham has added more seats for sale than any other airport, mainly from Edinburgh and Glasgow routes, Manchester – already a busy airport for easyJet – has pushed ahead. Indeed, Manchester has grown stronger than any other major easyJet airport in the UK and across the continent, analyzing OAG schedules information reveals.

  • Birmingham: +381,432 seats in summer 2022 versus S19 (+191.7%)
  • Manchester: +335,784 (+10.9%)
  • Aberdeen: +166,440 (+305.9%)
  • Glasgow: +129,024 (+8.5%)
  • Belfast City: +117,194 (unserved in S19)
  • Newquay: +46,848 (unserved in S19)
  • Bristol: -12,243 (-0.32%)
  • Inverness: -42,474 (-11.6%)
  • Isle of Man: -55,258 (-17.8%)
  • Jersey: -113,070 (-20.2%)
  • Belfast International: -263,040 (-7.8%)
  • Newcastle: -496,956 (-64.1%)
  • Edinburgh: 573,678 (-20.2%)
  • Liverpool: 595,548 (-32.9%)
  • Gatwick: -776,661 (-5.7%)
  • Luton: -1,236,150 (-22.8%)
  • Stansted: -1,407,432 (-69.1%)
A320_easyJet_new_livery_2015
Faro and Amsterdam were also long-served by easyJet from Southend. Both are bases, so they seem likely to return subject to aircraft and slot availability. If Amsterdam begins, it could potentially use aircraft for 'W' flights from Southend, combining short and longer sectors, such as Amsterdam-Southend-Alicante and back. Photo: Airbus.

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61 routes from Manchester next summer

easyJet has scheduled 61 routes from Manchester next summer. Aberdeen, Enfidha, Hurghada, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Kos, Menorca, Newquay, Rome Fiumicino, and Sharm El Sheikh have been added since S19. Most of these joined in 2021, but S22 will be the first summer for Rome and Enfidha, while it'll be the first summer that easyJet has served Gran Canaria from Manchester.

The short 266-mile (428km) route to Aberdeen has been helped by the cut in air passenger duty and will return on March 28th, the second day of S22. With an initial four weekly flights, it'll rise to five-weekly (no Tuesday and Saturday flights) from May onwards. It'll compete with 19 weekly ATR-72 flights by Loganair.

easyJet's Manchester S22 network
Belfast, Amsterdam, Paris CDGM, Geneva, Palma, Alicante, Copenhagen, Berlin, Dalaman, and Malaga will be easyJet's top-10 routes from Manchester next summer. When writing, the A321neo is scheduled to be used on selected flights from Milan Malpensa. Image: OAG.

Manchester's second-largest airline

easyJet plans 3.4 million round-trip Manchester seats next summer, cementing its position as the airport's second-largest operator with about one in every six seats, OAG indicates. Ryanair remains top, helped by growing even faster (+15.6%).

When writing, 27 existing easyJet routes will have more seats for sale than they did in S19. That's some achievement, although it could change. Spain has done well (+13.4% more seats) and better than most other tourist countries, helped by growth to Alicante, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma, and Tenerife.

But it is the UK domestic market that has pushed ahead. Capacity has risen by 73% to almost 400,000 seats, making it easyJet's second-largest from Manchester after Spain. Routes have doubled to four, with Aberdeen, Belfast, Jersey, and Newquay all served, with Isle of Man not bookable after March 26th. Most are to places hard or very time-consuming to reach overland.

What do you make of easyJet's Manchester and wider UK offering? Let us know by commenting.