After three years at Manchester, Easyjet has announced plans to expand with a seventh aircraft based at the airport.
The low cost carrier started operations out of Manchester in March 2008, with the acquisition of GB Airways.
Having started out with two aircraft based at the northern England airport, last week Easyjet added its sixth aircraft and has announced plans to add a seventh from the start of next summer.
Additional aircraft could be added to Easyjet's Manchester base, if next year's expansion is successful, Paul Simmons, Easyjet's UK director, told ABTN.
He said: “We’ve reached an agreement with Manchester Airport to provide a framework of growth to take us through to 2015, which allows us to plot with some certainty our growth plans and the opportunities there.
“I don’t want to announce further aircraft beyond the seventh because it’s not the right time at the moment, but if things go as we intend we would like to see that number carry on growing.”
Simmons said the growth already seen at Manchester has been strong: “To go from 0 to 7 aircraft in the space of four years is pretty good going.”
Easyjet has already announced the launch of flights to Bilbao from June 17, followed by flights to Belfast, Madrid and Berlin from October. Further routes will be announced for next summer.
“There is still untapped demand in the northwest and in particular in the Manchester area,” said Simmons.
“We believe that there is still a way to go in terms of meeting unmet need in the northwest for easyjet’s brand of flying.”
Andrew Harrison, Manchester Airport's managing director, agreed that Easyjet's expansion would fill a low-cost gap in the airport's line-up of routes and carriers.
“We've got a great catchment, that we think is at the moment underserved in this sector,” he said.
“Passengers in the past who have maybe wanted to travel with Easyjet have had to drive past our doors to get to other airports, so from our point of view it's important that we rebalance that. It's a great opportunity for growth for us.”