PASSENGERS can look forward to going on skiing holidays from Southend Airport from next winter, easyJet bosses have promised.

The budget airline plans to run flights to several ski resorts across Europe, with tickets possibly going on sale this summer.

Catherine Lynn, the airline’s director of customer and revenue, said: “We’ll be looking to launch our winter schedule in May or June.

“We’ll mix up the flights we offer, with some routes to ski resorts and that kind of thing. Sales have been going well and we’re very excited about the future at Southend.”

The airline will operate routes to nine overseas destinations, once it starts flying from Southend on April 2.

The airline was the first major brand to team up with the expanding airport when it announced a ten-year deal last June.

The Echo revealed yesterday that it will be joined by Irish airline Aer Lingus Regional, which will run three flights a day to Dublin, from May 10.

Passengers will also have the option to buy package deals for connecting Aer Lingus flights to New York, Chicago, Orlando and Boston.

Destinations will include Belfast, Barcelona and Amster-dam. However, easyJet has also chosen some resorts which are specifically targeted at summer tourists, such as Spain’s Alicante, Malaga and Ibiza, and Faro, in Portugal.

Ms Lynn said it was these destinations which were likely to change when the airline announces its winter schedule, which will set out its flights between November and March next year. It is not yet clear which routes might be chosen.

The airline’s Stansted base, from which three aircraft will be moved to fly from Southend, offers flights to Lyon, Grenoble and Nice, in France, Geneva, in Switzerland, Munich, in Germany and Ljubljana, in Slovenia.

Ms Lynn said: “The progress Southend has made in the past year is really encouraging.

“We’re looking forward to a long and beneficial relationship.”

When easyjet announced it was coming to Southend it said flights out of Stansted would be reduced.