EasyJet to restart international flights

EasyJet will extend its UK flying programme in July, and restart ex-UK international flights.

From 1 July, the carrier will expand its schedule to include more than 900 weekly flights to and from 14 UK airports.

EasyJet restarted flights from Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast earlier this month.

Next month, operations will resume at Luton, Stansted, Manchester and Aberdeen.

Initial city break destinations will include Paris, Milan and Barcelona, while an expanded range of beach destinations will be available throughout July and August, including the Balearics and the Canaries, as well as locations across Greece, Croatia and Portugal.

A new Gatwick-Stockholm summer route will launch on 20 July

EasyJet plans to operate around 50% of its 1,022 routes in July, increasing to 75% in August, albeit at lower frequencies equivalent to around 30% of normal July-September capacity.

All flights will be operated with new bio-security measures. These include enhanced aircraft disinfection; mandatory mask wearing by cabin and ground crew; and no onboard food service.

Social distancing will be enforced throughout the passenger journey, and to the greatest extent possible onboard, while passengers will be encouraged to use automated bag drop services, check-in online and scan their own documents.

Robert Carey, easyJet chief commercial and strategy officer, said the carrier had teamed up with a superhero illustrator, Will Sliney, to create comic book-inspired face masks for children "to help ease the experience for kids and parents.

"The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew remains our highest priority," said Carey. "This is why we have implemented a number of measures enhancing safety at each part of the journey from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks.

"These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”