Easyjet has dropped its biggest hint yet that it’s seriously considering a future move to London Heathrow.
The Daily Telegraphhas reported that the airline has applied to join a key committee, which represents the “operational and strategic” interest of carriers operating out of Heathrow.
A spokesman for the carrier said that as Britain’s biggest airline, Easyjet has an interest in the expansion plans of “both Heathrow and Gatwick”, where it is the dominant operator.
“Heathrow is one of less than a handful of primary airports in Europe we don’t operate from,” the spokesman said.
“We operate out of hub airports in France, in Italy, in Holland. We don’t currently [operate from Heathrow] but we’ve never said we wouldn’t in the future.”
After the 2015 general election The Airports Commission will report its final conclusions where to build a new runway to improve airport capacity in the south east – Heathrow or Gatwick.
If Heathrow receives the go-ahead, it will free up more slots at the airport, which currently operates at 98 per cent capacity.
Easyjet’s interest in Heathrow could prove crucial in the debate over airport expansion, as a key argument in Gatwick’s proposal is that its rival Heathrow is too costly for low cost airlines.
Last month (May 13) Easyjet confirmed it carried 12 million business travellers for the year ending March 2014, with one in five of its passengers now using the airline for business. A move to Heathrow would significantly help boost its share of the business travel market.
Easyjet.com