EasyJet is to base three aircraft at Newcastle Airport from March 2026, enabling it to offer more routes and package holidays from the north-east next summer.
The news came as the airline and operator announced a £394 million pre-tax loss for the six months to the end of March 2025. This was higher than for the previous winter, but easyJet said it was a ‘slight improvement’ of about £50m when accounting for this year’s late Easter.
Looking ahead to this summer, easyJet holidays said it has sold 77% of its packages, and it expects to carry 25% more customers this year than last.
The airline has sold 80% of its seats for the three months from April to June and 42% for the rest of the summer, up 2.2 percentage points on the fourth quarter of last year.
EasyJet said it was on track to reach its medium-term goal of £1 billion annual pre-tax profit.
For next summer, it will have an expanded network from Newcastle, its 11th UK base, with a range of new route and package holidays ‘set to be confirmed in the coming weeks’, it said.
EasyJet currently offers flights and holidays on eight routes from Newcastle to Alicante, Amsterdam, Geneva, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Bristol and Belfast.
The opening of the Newcastle base follows the launch of bases at London Southend in March and Birmingham Airport last year. In addition to this, seven additional aircraft have joined its UK fleet this summer.
CEO Kenton Jarvis said: “The UK is an important market for easyJet, and we are excited to be opening yet another UK base, in Newcastle, driven by the demand for our flights and package holidays.”
