Budget airline easyJet has opened its 11th base in the UK at Newcastle Airport serving an expanded network of 22 short-haul routes.
The carrier said it would offer up to 86 flights per week from Newcastle in its summer schedule. This represents an 85 per cent increase compared with summer 2025, with the number of routes from the airport “nearly tripling” year-on-year.
Easyjet, which is basing three aircraft at Newcastle, is introducing routes to Antalya, Corfu, Dalaman, Enfidha, Faro, Lisbon, Malta, Nice, Prague, Reus, Rhodes, Rome, Sharm-El-Sheikh and Tenerife.
The Newcastle expansion comes after easyJet opened bases at Birmingham International Airport in 2024 and London Southend last year.
Kenton Jarvis, easyJet’s CEO, said the addition of Newcastle as a base was a “significant milestone that underlines our continued growth and investment in the UK regions”.
“Aviation plays a vital role in enabling economic growth, and this new base will support skilled jobs, boost regional connectivity and help drive prosperity in the North East and beyond.”
In a separate announcement, easyJet has unveiled a new lighter weight seat that will be fitted on its new aircraft from 2028.
The Kestrel seats, produced by Mirus Aircraft Seating, will be 20 per cent lighter than easyJet’s current aircraft seats and will also give passengers two inches of extra legroom, said easyJet in a statement.
The new seats will be installed on 237 new Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft, which are due to be delivered from 2028. EasyJet said the lighter seats on these aircraft would eventually save around a combined 40,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions per year.
David Morgan, easyJet’s chief operating officer, said: “This investment supports our continued focus on making our operations as efficient as possible, capitalising on small incremental gains that result in meaningful reductions in fuel burn and CO2 emissions.”