LONDON, UK — The start of easyJet’s operation with a single Gatwick-based aircraft and locally employed crew began with just a handful of routes – the first being Barcelona on 1st February 2002 which was later joined by new routes to Edinburgh, Zurich, Malaga, and Palma throughout the same month.




Previously, flying had only been inbound from its bases in Geneva, Nice, and Amsterdam.

Since then the airline has grown to become Gatwick’s largest and also easyJet’s largest base on its entire network. The airline will operate 79 aircraft from the airport next summer and now serves over 120 routes across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

EZY813 from London Gatwick to Barcelona was the very first flight operated by London Gatwick-based crew on a Boeing 737 aircraft which departed at 11:15 on 1st February 2002 with 137 passengers onboard.

Since then the airline has flown over 200 million passengers to and from the airport. easyJet now has an all-Airbus A320 family fleet including the more efficient neo type which is both more fuel-efficient and quieter and introduced its first-ever A321 neo into the fleet in 2018 which was also based at Gatwick.

easyJet flew around 19m passengers to and from the airport in 2019 and continues to grow. The airline has just added over 1.1 million additional seats on sale from the airport for next summer.

easyJet will also be introducing a new route for customers next summer from Gatwick. On sale later this week, Krk, the largest island in the Adriatic sea, nestled off the coast of Croatia, is a brand new destination in easyJet’s network. The new route will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays, starting 3rd May.