easyJet to Resume Amsterdam Link From Glasgow

UK low-cost carrier easyJet is to relaunch flights between Glasgow and Amsterdam, six years after it suspended operations on the route. The new daily link will be introduced from October 31 and will be its 15th destination from Glasgow Airport in Scotland. The airline last served the route to the Dutch capital in 2005, carrying an estimated 78,000 O&D passengers during the calendar year. Since then passenger numbers have fallen significantly despite flyglobespan entering the market and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has increased its own passenger share as a direct result.

It is interesting to note that following easyJet’s cancellation of the route, KLM’s O&D passenger traffic has seen very little movement. In 2005 it carried an estimated 62,236 O&D travellers, a figure that has risen to just 68,165 in 2010, despite the loss of easyjet’s estimated 78,000 passengers. The Dutch flag carrier obviously has wider benefits from the route through connections to other destinations in its network and according to official UK Civil Aviation Authority data, 274,402 terminal and transit passengers flew between the two cities in 2010, suggesting that more than 75 per cent of KLM’s traffic is transiting at Schiphol.

With these figures in mind, easyJet estimates that it will carry around 85,000 passengers per year on the route, predominantly targeting the city break market to Amsterdam and city-to-city business travel. It also expects a large proportion of traffic to originate in the Dutch capital. “The Dutch are excellent repeat visitors,” acknowledged Aoife Desmond, International Marketing Manager for Europe at Visit Scotland. “The route into Glasgow presents fantastic opportunities for short breaks as well as easy access to the West Coast for those looking to explore Scotland further.” Research from the national tourism agency by has found that there was untapped potential in Glasgow for inbound passengers, with 61 percent of Dutch visitors saying they were visiting the Highlands and a further 41 per cent citing Loch Lomond and the Trossachs as the main reason for their visit.

KLM currently has five daily flights and the airline will certainly not be able to compete on frequency, although it will be able to stimulate the market through its discounted fares. When easyJet last served the route its average one-way fare was an estimated $69, almost a third of KLM’s ($194). This would suggest that its yield was weak and would explain why the route was suspended. However, the airline’s business model has changed in the subsequent six years and it is likely that yields will be much stronger this time around.

“We have listened to customer feedback and there was a demand for Amsterdam as both a business and leisure destination,” said Hugh Aitken, Commercial Manager for Scotland, easyJet. The airline expects to carry around 4.3 million passengers on its flights from Glasgow this year, up nine per cent on 2010. Alongside the new link to Amsterdam it is to introduce an early morning flight to London Gatwick from June 6, and then a fourth rotation on the route from the start of the winter schedules.

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