Jet2.com offers 50,000 flights for just £30 as it launches operations in the south of England from Stansted
The budget airline is setting up base at London's Stansted Airport from March 29 next year
LOW-COST airline Jet2 is offering 50,000 flights for just £30 as it opens its first base in the south of England.
The budget airline is setting up base at London's Stansted Airport from March 29 next year.
It will be the firm's ninth UK base, with chief executive Steve Heapy saying the move will make it "a truly national brand".
will serve 21 European leisure destinations from Stansted, including daily flights to Alicante, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Majorca.
This will put the airline on a par with easyJet as the second largest carrier at the airport, behind Ryanair.
The flights will operate using six new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with the majority during quieter periods at the airport to fill gaps in its schedule and make use of its spare runway capacity.
Customers of the airline's package holiday arm, Jet2holidays, will also use the new routes.
Mr Heapy told the Press Association: "Because of our family friendly ethos, and Jet2holidays have enjoyed years of success and growth in northern
England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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"We think that we have a product that people in the south of England and the east of England want.
"We're offering routes from London Stansted Airport which we think are under-served.
"We're offering a flight only product and also our package holiday product, which we think is definitely under-served from Stansted Airport."
Mr Heapy expects the firm's package holidays from Stansted to be "a huge draw for people" due to features such as convenient flight times, a deposit of just £60 per
person and being Atol protected.
"We provide the best quality of customer service in the country," he added. "On our flights every customer is a VIP."
Stansted's chief executive Andrew Cowan described the announcement as a "vote of confidence in Stansted" and said it demonstrated the airport's ability to offer
more flights amid the long-delayed decision on whether to boost runway capacity at Heathrow or Gatwick.
He said: "We've said all along that better use should be made of existing capacity. Our runway is just over half full.
"Irrespective of what decisions are made around new runways, nothing is going to be built for at least another 10 to 15 years.
"We're very well placed to soak up that existing demand during that period."
arrival at Stansted is expected to create 250 new jobs at the airport and support more jobs across the region.
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