EasyJet has announced five new summer routes and holiday packages from Birmingham to top European beach destinations including Alicante. Scheduled to start from 29 June, the flights will be subject to the airline’s “Protection Promise”, which provides customers with flexibility if forced to change their plans.
In addition to Alicante-Elche Airport, the new routes are planned for Faro in Portugal, Mallorca and Málaga in Spain, and Corfu in Greece. The Birmingham-Alicante service will operate three times a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 30 June.
All EasyJet Holidays’ ATOL-protected beach holidays include flights, accommodation, 23-kilogram bag allowance per person and transfers.
Announcing details of the new summer services, EasyJet’s UK country manager, Ali Gayward, said, “We are pleased to announce more connectivity to Birmingham today in flying to popular beach destinations and getting customers away on their much-needed summer holiday across Europe this year.
“We believe that a framework can be put in place for the safe reopening of travel and a strong summer, and we are currently focused on working with the UK Government Travel Task Force in the coming days and weeks. We are hopeful that progress will continue to be made with the vaccination programmes in Europe, with several countries in Europe having indicated they will be welcoming British tourists this summer.
“We remain of the view that international travel can restart and that, with the right framework in place, restrictions can be safely and progressively reduced and in some cases removed by mid-summer for key destinations. We’ve kept our fleet in a flight-ready mode so we are ready and able to ramp up our services quickly and increase our capacity where we see increased demand for the summer.”
Added Birmingham chief executive Nick Barton, “Customers can confidently book with EasyJet with the reassurance that their flights and holidays are ATOL and ABTA protected.”
Travel Flexibility
Flexible customer policies under EasyJet and EasyJet Holidays’ “Protection Promise” pledge mean customers “can book now with the confidence that if their plans change so can their booking. This includes a refund guarantee for flights or holidays if they are cancelled plus a full refund for holidays if a customer changes their mind up to 28 days before, and – unlike other airlines – with our travel ban protection customers can also receive a refund for non-cancelled flights if plans are impacted by travel bans in a regional or national lockdown.”
Other flexible options include “the freedom to change flights without a fee up to 14 days before departure, and change a holiday up to 28 days before departure; and, if quarantine measures come into place last minute, our quarantine assurance also means impacted flights can be changed without a change fee”.
According to EasyJet, the safety and wellbeing of all customers and crew members remains the airline’s highest priority, including biological safety measures in place onboard in line with guidance from the relevant authorities. “This includes daily enhanced cabin disinfection effective in protecting against coronavirus for at least 24 hours, and mandatory mask wearing for customers and crew. All EasyJet aircraft are already fitted with HEPA filters, similar to those used in hospitals, which filter 99.97 per cent of airborne contaminants in the cabin, including viruses and bacteria.”
Alicante-Elche Airport has received international recognition for its hygiene measures.
