easyJet announces new ski route from London Gatwick to Åre Östersund in Sweden

easyJet, Europe’s leading and Gatwick’s largest airline, has announced a new route from London Gatwick toÅre Östersund Airport, Sweden whichwill commence on 11 December 2016 and is expected to be especially popular with skiers and snowboarders.

The new route will be easyJet’s first service from the UK to Sweden. When it launches it will be the 32nd country in easyJet’s network and the 107th destination available from London Gatwick airport.

The winter only service will operate once per week on Sundays on an A320 aircraft. easyJet expects to carry 4,800 passengers in its first Winter of operation with fares starting from £30.49*.

easyJet flies more than three times more frequently to and from Europe’s ski destinations than any other UK airline. In addition to this new route the airline operates to Lyon, Saltzburg, Turin, Innsbruck, Grenoble, and its largest gateway, Geneva in Switzerland to which it carries 190,000 passengers to every week throughout the season. On any given Saturday in January, easyJet will have up to 88 flights and carry over 12,000 customers throughout the day into Geneva alone.

Neil Slaven, easyJet’s UK commercial Manager, said:

“Åre Östersund, which is located in Sweden’s Jämtland province, is a great skiing destination and we are sure it will prove a popular service for both skiers and snowboarders looking to explore the region.

“High profile sporting events such as the Alpine World Championships coupled with the ever increasing quality of ski resorts across Europe are helping to inspire first time skiers and contributing to the rise in popularity we are seeing amongst our customers for ski breaks.”

“The Åre Ostersund area is also famous for both its location to nearby nature as well as winter activities such as horse and dog sleds and snowmobile safaris which make it a fantastic family destination. We are sure that our travellers from Gatwick will find the range of winter activities on offer very appealing.

VisitSweden's Ami Hovstadius, managing director VisitSweden UK:

“We are very excited to be working with easyJet on this new direct route to Åre Östersund Airport and Sweden's top alpine ski resorts. More people are travelling to Sweden from the UK than ever before with the Swedish lifestyle, Scandi food and Nordic Noir proving irresistible. Sweden's mountain region of Jämtland Härjedalen boasts not only with the country's best ski resorts, like Åre and Vemdalen, but also has an abundance of winter outdoor activities and delicious food. We really look forward to welcoming the British holidaymaker to experience our winter lifestyle.”

Last year over 16 million passengers flew easyJet in and out of London Gatwick. easyJet started flying from the airport in 1999 and now has 60 aircraft based there, operating on 107 routes. The airline has around 1400 cabin crew and 700 pilots operating from the Gatwick and plans to continue to grow at Gatwick by exploring new routes and deploying larger aircraft as easyJet replaces 156 seat A319s with 180 seat A320s and, from 2017, A320neos.

easyJet operates from 14 UK airports to ski destinations (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, London Luton, London Gatwick, London Southend, and Bournemouth) including 10 daily flights between London Luton and Geneva, and a further 11 daily flights between London Gatwick and Geneva, its two largest UK airports operating ski flights.

About Åre Östersund:

The city Östersund is located on the eastern shore of Storsjön lake where winter temperatures drop below freezing and create a Winter Wonderland of snow and ice. Östersund is known as ‘the Winter City’ catering for just about any activity on snow or ice. The spectacular ‘Medvinden’- a 50km long-distance skating track on Storsjön lake - and the Winter Park, a lakeshore winter paradise especially for children with ice castles, ice sculptures, a huge skating rink, restaurants and cafes, are both worth a visit.

Åre is the alpine heart of Scandinavia; a one hour transfer brings you to Scandinavia’s best downhill skiing. There´s also cross-country skiing, tour skating, ice-fishing, horse and dog sledding, snowmobile safaris and much more. This unique combination of winter sports and entertainment at some 50 bars and restaurants in northern Europe's cosiest and trendiest mountain village makes Åre the perfect winter destination for both advanced skiers and families alike.

*One-way, including taxes and based on two people one the same booking.

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

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 70 million passengers annually, of which more than a fifth are travelling on business. easyJet flies over 255 aircraft on more than 820 routes to over 130 airports across 31 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 seven 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 £7m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

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