UK-based budget airline, EasyJet, has scrapped flights to Edinburgh and Newquay from London Southend Airport, Echo News has reported.
The airline is also cutting back on its trips to Jersey and will now only operate four a week. The move follows easyJet’s announcement in August that it will scrap flights to Belfast, on January 5.
The airline and the airport did not reveal the reasons behind the route closures.
In its statement, easyJet said: ‘Southend continues to be a successful base for easyJet and we will continue to focus the flying schedule there on the routes with the greatest demand.’
David Lister, airport operations director, said: ‘Since easyJet opened its base here in March 2012, it has enjoyed huge success with some of the highest customer satisfaction levels across its European network recorded here.
‘This summer they added an additional aircraft to the base and have consistently expanded the number of destinations on offer from Southend. We look forward to continuing and growing this relationship.’
Flights to the Scottish capital have been running since May. The inaugural flight to Edinburgh was on May 2, 2013, with year round flights running six days a week, every day except Saturday, with fares from as little as £27.49 one way, including taxes. The Newquay route was launched in June this year and carried almost 8,000 passengers in the summer.
An easyJet spokesman said: ‘The last Edinburgh flight from Southend is on June 14. About 5 per cent of our passengers flying in and out of Southend in 2013 used the Edinburgh services.’
In October, easyJet’s UK commercial manager, Hugh Aitken, said that an extra flight would be added in August 2014.
easyjet operates 25 flights to Edinburgh from other London airports. It has also recently started flying from Southend to Tenerife.
