EasyJet : extends ‘Worldwide by easyJet’ to new connections airline partner Virgin Atlantic

easyJet, Europe's leading airline, has today announced that it has signed up Virgin Atlantic as a new airline partner to its unique connections service 'Worldwide by easyJet'

This means that from today easyJet customers can seamlessly connect through London Gatwick Airport between easyJet and Virgin Atlantic flights. This opens up new destination options via 'Worldwide by easyJet' which could see customers connecting from the likes of Barcelona through to Orlando and Edinburgh to Las Vegas. Other Virgin Atlantic destinations now available also include Las Vegas, Antigua and St Lucia.

Worldwide by easyJet has been consistently growing, with more than 4,000 unique O&Ds which have been booked in combination with partner airlines.

Johan Lundgren, easyJet Chief Executive Officer said:

"We are really pleased to welcome Virgin Atlantic to 'Worldwide by easyJet'. Given we both serve many popular destinations from London Gatwick, we are confident their addition to Worldwide will be very popular with our customers.

"We have been delighted with the appetite of partner airports and airlines to expand Worldwide across our network and continue to broaden our focus to launch more airline partners and add connectivity to more of our biggest airports. Tens of millions of connecting passengers travel each year with journeys which begin or end in Europe.

"Because of easyJet's reputation for great customer service and our strong positions at Europe's leading airports, a large number of different airlines as well as airports have been asking to work with easyJet for some time and we expect to announce more partners in the coming months."

Craig Kreeger, CEO at Virgin Atlantic commented;

"Virgin Atlantic is committed to working with the best possible global partners, to offer industry leading choice and connections for our customers. easyJet's unbeatable Gatwick network, combined with a shared customer centric ethos, makes them the ideal fit for us. We're delighted that customers across the UK and Europe will be able to enjoy more choice when connecting onto our flights through Gatwick and we look forward to welcoming them on board very soon."

This addition compliments easyJet's existing relationships with Norwegian, WestJet, Thomas Cook Airlines, Corsair, La Compagnie, Aurigny and Loganair who are already part of 'Worldwide by easyJet'.

Earlier this month easyJet announced that Singapore Airlines and its low cost subsidiary airline Scoot will join the 'Worldwide by easyJet' global connections service, connecting easyJet customers with South East Asia with Singapore Airlines via Milan Malpensa airport and with Scoot through Berlin Tegel. The service is expected to be available within the coming months.

easyJet will continue sign up other airlines to 'Worldwide by easyJet' during 2018, with talks progressing with middle and far-eastern carriers amongst others and the airline also plans to expand to other key easyJet airports in Europe.

Worldwide by easyJet explained

'Worldwide by easyJet' launched in September 2017 enabling customers to connect easyJet flights through London Gatwick to long haul flights, with launch airline partners WestJet and Norwegian. This quickly expanded to Thomas Cook Airlines, Corsair, La Compagnie and Loganair and the connections platform was extended to Milan Malpensa airport in December 2017.

In March 2018 easyJet announced that it was extending its 'Worldwide by easyJet' connections platform to Berlin Tegel, Venice Marco Polo, Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris Charles De Gaulle and Orly and Edinburgh airports. Venice and Berlin Tegel are now fully operational meaning that, combined with the connections already announced through London Gatwick and Milan Malpensa, over half of the airline's flights - and 53 million easyJet customers a year - will be able to connect to airline partner services and other easyJet flights in a single booking through easyJet's digital booking portal.

It is the first global airline connections service by a European low fares airline. Worldwide by easyJet offers self-connect and sales partnerships through a digital, virtual hub simply and efficiently.

easyJet has leadership positions at more of Europe's major airports and flies on more of Europe's 100 largest routes than any other airline which makes it the most attractive European short haul airline partner. The introduction of this disruptive product opens up new 70m market segment for easyJet.

All of this connectivity has been enabled by technology partner Dohop whose innovative platform allows easyJet customers to book connections and forward flights on easyJet.com. Worldwide by easyJet will also allow easyJet passengers to connect with other easyJet flights through partner airports.

Worldwide by easyJet does not impact easyJet's punctuality, its asset utilisation or operating model. The airline will not hold flights for connecting passengers. Worldwide by easyJet is subject to a 2 hour 30 minute 'Minimum Connection Time', which will give customers plenty of time to transfer between flights and/or terminals. Should a passenger miss a connecting flight they will be transferred to the next available flight.

Ends

For further information, please contact the easyJet Press Office on 01582 525252, log onto www.easyjet.comor follow @easyJet_Press

For Virgin Atlantic specific questions please [e-mail]

About easyJet

easyJet is Europe's leading airline offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe's primary airports, with great value fares and friendly service.

easyJet flies on more of Europe's most popular routes than any other airline. easyJet carries over 83 million passengers annually, of which more than 13 million are travelling on business. easyJet flies 308 aircraft on more than 1000 routes to 154 airports across 33 countries. More than 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport.

easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in eight countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports a number of local charities and also has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £10m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

The airline takes sustainability seriously. easyJet invests in the latest technology, operates efficiently and fills most of its seats which means that an easyJet passenger's carbon footprint is 22% less than a passenger on a traditional airline, flying the same aircraft on the same route.

Innovation is in easyJet's DNA - from our launch over 20 years ago when we changed the way people fly to the present day where we lead the industry in digital, web, engineering and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for our passengers.

About Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic was founded by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson 34 years ago with innovation and customer service at its core. Today Virgin Atlantic carries 5.5 million customers annually, and was recently named the UK's favourite long haul carrier by Skytrax, Best Transatlantic Airline at the British Travel Awards 2017 and one of the Top 5 Airlines in the World by Airline Ratings. Headquartered in London, Virgin Atlantic employs over 10,000 people worldwide and operates a fleet of 47 aircraft serving 25 destinations across four continents. Alongside joint venture partner Delta Air Lines they operate a leading transatlantic network - offering up to 38 flights per day between the UK and US with onward connections to over 200 US and international cities. In 2019 Virgin Atlantic will take delivery of their first Airbus A350-1000 aircraft - helping to transform the fleet into one of the quietest and most fuel efficient in the sky.

For more information visit: www.virginatlantic.com or via twitter @virginatlantic