Airline eyes up new opportunities after Birmingham hub expansion

The firm announced a 34% jump in annual profits for the last financial year at the same time as its decision to base an extra two aircraft at Birmingham Airport, which the firm says will support an extra 800 jobs in the region.

In November the company has also expanded its route network from Birmingham with the addition of seven new routes, but said the two Airbus A320's which would be flying out of the Midlands next summer means they were looking at adding extra destinations in the wake of strong demand from customers in the region.

"It's really interesting to understand what people of the West Midlands want us to fly to because that helps us to evaluate our opportunities, so it's great that we can announce another two routes but we're continuing to look at new opportunities as they become available and as we continue to grow," easyJet's UK Country Manager told the Express and Star.

"We're starting to think about what new routes we can add for the extra two aircraft we're going to add [to Birmingham] next summer, so there might be some additional capacity on the routes we're already operating this winter but also we'd want to add some new routes so we've got the pins and the map out at the moment to see what those opportunities might be."

This airline's 2024 financial year results saw profit before tax climb to £610 million, driven by another consecutive record summer - but also by a 56% improvement in profits at the company's package holiday deal arm, easyJet Holidays.

The group has a medium term target of 10 per cent growth for its Holiday's operation.

"From statistics that came out from Barclays we've seen even in the economically uncertain times we're seeing people are not giving up their holidays, they're still really important to them and especially when you look at the weather we've been having I think people have been looking forward to a bit of sunshine," she added.

"The key thing for us has been the wonderful support for the easyJet Holidays proposition and people who have [previously] used easyJet for flight only but perhaps bought their accommodation and their ground arrangements through other means. They're now coming to the airline that they know so well to book everything and keep it all together because we're a known and trusted brand and I think that's what's driven the profit improvements."