EasyJet has expanded its Northern Ireland workforce to 500 people after registering its biggest ever flying programme across the region.
The budget airline, which now flies from all three airports in the north, added a ninth aircraft to its hub at Belfast International Airport in May.
The airline’s UK country manager, Ali Gayward, said the introduction of each new aircraft creates around 120 direct jobs.
EasyJet has added two new aircraft at its Belfast International hub since June 2023, and now employs around 300 cabin crew and 140 pilots from the Northern Ireland base, along with 20 engineers and a management team.
“There’s definitely still room for growth there,” added Ms Gayward.
The additional jet contributed to a 15% year-on-year in EasyJet’s Northern Ireland flying programme, with the carrier hitting a record 5.3 million customers.
The launch of flights from City of Derry Airport in early November means EasyJet is now operating from the north’s three main airports for the first time.
“We’re really well covered now over the whole of Northern Ireland,” said Ms Gayward.
“We actually represent about 61% of all the flying that happens across Northern Ireland.”
Group-wide, EasyJet has reported a headline pre-tax profit of £610 million for the year to September 30, up from £455m 12 months earlier.
The airline said the 34% uplift in profit was in part driven by the growth of its holiday division, where profits increased 56% year-on-year.
“EasyJet Holidays has been really well received in Northern Ireland,” said the country manager.
“We have seen lots of growth and it’s actually what has driven some of the new route announcements we have made.”
Last year saw EasyJet launch flights to Egypt from Belfast International. At 2,400 nautical miles, the route is the airline’s longest from its Northern Ireland base.
Ms Gayward said the Egyptian flights have proved very popular at the airport, with the airline now looking at other destinations in North Africa.
Beach packages to Majorca, the Algarve and Tenerife are among the top destinations for northern holidaymakers, while Paris was the tour operator’s bestselling city break.
Meanwhile, just three weeks into its new operation at City of Derry Airport, Ali Gayward said the airline has already witnessed two-way passenger flow on both the Edinburgh and Liverpool routes.
“We’re still in very early days, but we feel really encouraged by the support we’re seeing.”
She also said the airline is very happy with its operation at Belfast City Airport.
“We’ve seen great demand for the routes there. Obviously some of the routes are replicated at the International, but it’s great to be able to offer customers more choice.
“It has sat really comfortably with what we are doing at the International Airport.”
