easyJet has celebrated its one year anniversary at London Southend Airport, with passengers, staff and children from the local community who were invited to participate in a paper plane ‘origami master class’ and competition to mark the occasion. 

A huge easyJet orange, origami paper plane was unveiled in the check-in area by easyJet UK commercial manager Hugh Aitken and London Southend Airport managing director Alastair Welch.

Aitken commented “There was a great atmosphere at the easyJet check-in desk – our origami plane was certainly eye-catching!

“The atmosphere was exactly what we wanted to create for all our passengers to say thank you for their continued support.”

easyJet launched at London Southend in April 2012 with ten popular holiday routes across Europe.

During the airline’s first year it has continued to invest in the airport by launching an additional five routes, bringing more choice and outstanding value to its passengers from Southend and the surrounding areas.

The total number of easyJet destinations from London Southend is now 15, and will soon include links to additional business and leisure hubs such as Edinburgh (May), Berlin, Krakow and Newquay (June). 

Also in June, this investment will be strengthened by the arrival of a fourth aircraft to be based at London Southend Airport.

Aitken added “It’s been a monumental year for us; we’ve flown more than 700,000 passengers and have increased the destinations we operate to by more than 50 per cent.

“We’re fully committed to London Southend Airport and have demonstrated this by investing heavily in new destinations.

“We’re keen to continue adding more varied routes to our schedule and over the coming week’s we’ll see inaugural flights to Edinburgh, Berlin, Krakow and Newquay take-off.

“Ultimately our long-term aim at London Southend Airport is simple; to expand our network, bring more competition and lower fares as well as opening up new markets to both our leisure and business travellers.”