Jet2 set to trigger 'air war' with easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and TUI

Jet2 has reportedly sparked a "fresh air war" as Ryanair and easyJet battle for passengers at a major UK airport. Jet2 is set to spark an "air war" at Luton Airport after setting out plans to launch operations from easyJet's home base in just four months.

Jet2 will establish its 13th UK base at the Bedfordshire airport as it looks to make a dent in a sector dominated by easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and Tui. Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will start operations from Luton airport next summer to compete head-to-head with easyJet, Tui, Wizz Air and Ryanair.

A total of 17 destinations will be served with the first flight to Majorca starting on April 1. The UK’s largest tour operator and third biggest airline is putting 430,000 seats on sale and will run up to 36 weekly flights, including multiple weekly services to the Canary Islands, Balearics, mainland Spain, Portugal and Turkey.

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Weekly services will run to destinations across Greece, Italy and Madeira. Chief executive Steve Heapy said: “We are very excited to announce London Luton airport as our 13th UK airport base today, further expanding our footprint and bringing our award-winning holidays and flights to even more customers.

“Customers and independent travel agents have been asking us to open at Luton for many years now, so we know how enormously popular this announcement will be. We have seen time and time again how popular our product is when we bring it to new customers, and we look forward to delivering our VIP customer service to holidaymakers from our newest airport base.”

He added: “This latest expansion reflects our strategy to be the UK’s leading and best leisure travel business and it underlines the confidence we have in our leisure travel product offering. As well as signalling great news for holidaymakers, today is also a major boost for the local economy as our significant investment includes the creation of over 125 jobs initially.”

Airport chief executive Alberto Martin added: “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. It will also create exciting new jobs for local people and new opportunities for our local supply chain that we already work so closely with.

“Next year is shaping up to be another bumper year for London Luton airport and the addition of 17 exciting new routes on our departure boards, including three destinations that are exclusive to the airport, underlines our commitment to providing even greater choice as part of our simple and friendly passenger experience.”