easyJet withdraws flights from Luton as negotiations with the airport falter.

Budget airline easyJet has announced it is closing its base at East Midlands airport and will reduce its flights out of Luton by 20%, but said it will try to minimise potential job losses.

The company blamed rising airport costs at Luton airport for its decision to withdraw the flights and force it to look for alternative locations in its network.

According to a statement released today (3 September), easyJet said it had been in negotiations with the Spanish owners of Luton airport – Abertis – together with Luton Borough Council, which receives over half the airport charges, but no resolution was possible and the airline said it has been forced to relocate parts of its flying programme.

Andy Harrison, easyJet’s Chief Executive, said he was deeply disappointed that the negotiations with Abertis and Luton Council faltered and at a time when jobs in the town are under threat, he thought they would want to protect those jobs that they could.

The East Midlands base has become a redundant location for the airline as it has remained stagnant for the past three years. The company said it instead plans to move its focus to higher priority markets.

Mr Harrison continued: “In regard to East Midlands we cannot see a growing long term future and we have decided to move our assets to markets with better long term potential.

“The rise in APD [Air Passenger Duty] hits regional airports hardest and increases the pressure to move aircraft to mainland Europe.”

A 90-day consultation has begun with all the staff affected by the changes and the airline hopes it will be able to redeploy as many staff as possible. It has confirmed that all flights from East Midlands up to and including the Christmas and New Year period will be unaffected by the change. 

Today also saw easyJet release its latest passenger figures for August 2009, which has seen a 4.7% increase compared to 2008.

Earlier this week the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) projected a dismal start for airlines in 2009 and projected losses across the industry of more than $6 billion (£3.7bn).