Easyjet is to drop its base at Madrid from the start of the winter season, blaming over capacity in the Spanish airline market, along with high airport charges.
The carrier says that its base in the Spanish capital is “delivering returns below all of Easyjet’s other bases”, and says that while it will continue to serve Spain, it will “do so differently by moving its aircraft to other Easyjet bases around its European network which will deliver higher returns for the airline”.
The move will see Easyjet reducing capacity to and from Madrid by around 20 per cent in the next financial year, although the reduction in flights to and from Spain as a whole will be around 7 per cent.
It’s not yet clear which services will be dropped – Easyjet says it is now “reviewing a range of options for its eight Madrid based aircraft and 310 crew”, with all pilots and cabin crew based in Madrid set to be offered jobs at other bases.
In other news, Iberia is believed to be dropping its flights between Madrid and Manchester / Glasgow (operated by franchise partner Air Nostrum). The move was announced on industry website airlineroute.net yesterday – Business Traveller is awaiting conformation from the carrier and will post a separate story in due course.
For more information visit easyjet.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
