EASYJET has the “perfect opportunity” to reopen its base at Southend Airport and add extra flights to top European destinations, it has been claimed. 

Calls are growing for the budget airline to add more routes to its popular list of destinations, after it was revealed that easyJet will lose 90 flights a week from Gatwick Airport as they are given to British Airways next summer. 

A travel agent and senior councillor have now insisted this is the prime time for easyJet to expand its offering at Southend and add new routes and potentially re-open its base. 

At the moment, easyJet flies to Paris, Amsterdam, Alicante, Bourgas, Faro, Geneva, Genoble, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca from Southend Airport.

Tanya Guiver, travel consultant at Benfleet Travel, in High Road, said: “This is the perfect opportunity for easyJet to bring more flights to Southend.

“More flights should be offered as they’re not at full capacity at the moment. We only need to look at people’s demand for more routes from the city.

“We did get a lot of demand when Alicante was announced but if more slots were announced or even the return of a base at Southend, we’ll have a lot more business.”

The former easyJet base shut in 2020 after the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on the travel industry.

Passenger flights resumed last summer and now, Southend Airport unveiled its largest winter schedule in four years.

In the background, Esken, previously the Stobart Group, is in talks to auction off the airport, which has received an “encouraging level of interest”.

Kevin Buck, Southend Conservative councillor responsible for highways, transport and parking, says more slots will give interested parties “more confidence” to consider an investment.

He added: “If more people are going in and out of the airport on flights, that shows it’s growing and there’s a business investment opportunity there.

“Also, more slots will boost the local economy, bring more jobs and get the airport back on its feet.

“I hope easyJet use this opportunity.”