NEW route from Edinburgh to Munich easyJet,
Europe's leading low-fares airline, today announced it would be bringing more low-fares to Scotland by adding a new direct European route from Edinburgh.
The daily service to Munich will bring the total number of destinations served by easyJet from its Edinburgh base to nine, with an overall capacity increase of 5%.The airline expects to carry almost 100,000 passengers on this route in the first 12 months.
Earlier this year easyJet converted its bases at Edinburgh and Glasgow to solely Airbus operations, replacing the current fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft with brand new Airbus 319s.
This move, together with the expansion of its Glasgow operations earlier this year, reflects easyJet’s continued commitment to its future in Scotland. David Osborne, easyJet UK General Manager Commercial, commented: “easyJet is thrilled to be bringing this direct new route from Edinburgh to Munich.
The German city is an important business centre as well as a historic and cultural city, ideal for business passengers and for weekend breaks. This direct route is not only advantageous for Scots on business and leisure but will also bring economic benefit to Scotland by bringing German tourists to the region.
This new route is the first step in easyJet’s expansion plans for Edinburgh in 2007 and we look forward to announcing more new routes in the coming weeks.” Richard Jeffrey, managing director of Edinburgh Airport welcomed easyJet’s commitment to the capital. He said: “This is excellent news from easyJet and underlines their commitment to expand from Edinburgh. We are delighted to be able to support this new route through the BAA Scotland route development fund. “Munich is one of Germany’s most vibrant cities, an important business centre and an ideal city break destination.
We are confident it will prove popular with passengers, both here and in Germany, and will provide a real boost to the city’s tourism industry.” “We look forward to working with easyJet to ensure the success of this new route and welcome their announcement of further expansion in the weeks ahead.” The daily Edinburgh to Munich service which commences on 4 April 2007 is a result of investment from the Scottish Executive, in the form of the route development fund. This is a scheme introduced to support new direct air links, which will bring economic benefit to Scotland. easyJet not only expects to give Scots new opportunities for travel for both business and leisure purposes to the German city, but also to encourage more German tourists to visit Scotland.
EasyJet will also benefit from funding, in the form of marketing support, from VisitScotland. Chief Executive of VisitScotland Philip Riddle said: "Germany is our number one European market bringing in more than 280,000 visitors a year, so we are delighted to be working with easyJet on a £600,000 campaign to support this new route between Munich and Edinburgh. It will further raise awareness of Scotland and its capital as a holiday destination in this important tourism market. "The new route will be especially significant to Edinburgh as our city is twinned with Munich and this is the first direct air link from the south of Germany.
The flight will open up Scotland to a market of more than 1.3million people living in the largest city in that region. "VisitScotland also supports all our direct routes, and we have developed an especially good relationship with easyJet over the last year when we worked with the airline on the launch of the Berlin- Glasgow flight, running a £100,000 campaign, which we jointly funded with easyJet and we look forward to continued successful relationship with them."
The introduction of the Edinburgh to Munich route by easyJet will provide a direct connection between the Scottish and German city; currently travellers need to endure laborious connections and pay fares that are too high. The fares start from £21.99 one way including tax. Seats for Munich will be on sale in December when the airline launches its Summer schedule.
(From EasyJet)
