Air wars to intensify at Luton airport as Jet2 launches new routes for 2025

The budget airline will take on easyJet, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air with 36 flights a week in summer 2025

Nov 13, 2024 - 21:02

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Air wars to intensify at Luton airport as Jet2 launches new routes for 2025

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Passengers using Luton airport can look forward to more choice and lower fares from next summer as Jet2 moves in. The Leeds-based airline will launch 36 flights each week, starting in April 2025, mainly to Mediterranean and Atlantic island destinations.

Of the 17 destinations Jet2 will serve, three are new: Madeira, Girona and Verona.

The remaining 14 routes already have service from Luton. They include:

Eight Spanish destinations: Alicante, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Palma, Reus and Tenerife.Faro in Portugal.Three Greek island destinations: Heraklion in Crete, Rhodes and Zante.Antalya and Dalaman in Turkey.

Competition at the Bedfordshire airport is already intense. EasyJet, Britain’s biggest budget airline, has its HQ at Luton. The airport is also the main UK base for Wizz Air – and was the first destination for Ryanair, which has a significant presence.

Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2, told The Independent that finding the required arrival and departure slots “was a challenge” but they had been successfully secured for the summer 2025 programme.

“There was demand for our award-winning customer service, and we’re very happy to be delivering it,” he said.

Jet2 Holidays, the package travel component of his company, is the biggest tour operator in the UK. Its closest rival, Tui, is based in Luton, but has only a small presence at the airport.

The launch will add 430,000 seats to capacity to and from Luton, which is the fifth-busiest airport in the UK after Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.

Alberto Martin, Luton’s chief executive, said: “The arrival of Jet2 is fantastic news for the millions of passengers who choose to fly from the airport each year and marks a major expansion of Jet2’s operations in the south of England.

The airline route analyst Sean Moulton told The Independent: “Launching at Luton – the home of easyJet, TUI and Wizz UK – demonstrates Jet2 is confident that their brand and product is strong and distinctive to compete against these carriers.

“With the airport’s passenger cap increasing, and still a void in holiday routes since the demise of Monarch, the airport is prime for Jet2 to keep its expansion going.”

This year Jet2 launched flights from Liverpool, and next summer it will also operate from Bournemouth.