easyJet, the UK-based low-fares airline, has announced a new route from London Gatwick to Are Ostersund Airport, Sweden, particularly aimed at skiers and snowboarders.
The new route, which will commence on December 11, 2016, will be easyJet’s first service from the UK to Sweden. The winter only service will operate once per week on Sundays on an A320 aircraft. The airline is expecting to carry 4,800 passengers in its first Winter of operation, with fares starting from £30.49.
Neil Slaven, easyJet’s UK commercial Manager, said: ‘Are Ostersund, which is located in Sweden’s Jamtland 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 Are 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 directorof VisitSweden UK, said: ‘We are very excited to be working with easyJet on this new direct route to Are Ostersund 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 Jamtland Harjedalen boasts not only with the country’s best ski resorts, like Are 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.
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 every week all through the season.
easyJet operates to ski destinations from 14 UK airports – 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.
