Budget airline easyJet has announced plans to add two new aircraft to its operations at Birmingham Airport.
The additions will commence services at the transport hub in Solihull from next summer and support around 800 jobs.
The Luton-based carrier said that it had operated its largest-ever programme out of Birmingham Airport in its 2023/24 financial year after flying more than 1.6 million customers to and from the airport, up year on year by 53 per cent.
After launching a base in Birmingham in March, it now operates routes to destinations such as Reykjavik, Prague, Krakow and Innsbruck.
It said the arrival of two new Airbus A320s would enable the airline to offer more choice of flights and holidays across Europe including new routes to Gran Canaria and Malta which commence next summer.
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Each aircraft is estimated to support around 400 direct and indirect jobs and add £27 million to the local economy.
The news comes as the airline also announced its annual results which showed that pre-tax profit had been boosted by 34 per cent to £610 million.
º£½ÇÊÓƵ manager Ali Gayward said: "Our continued success in Birmingham is a clear testament to the continued popularity of our flights and holidays.
"The growth of our fleet with two additional aircraft will not only support around 800 jobs but is enabling us to further unlock the opportunity of the continuing demand that we see for both leisure and business travel in the Midlands.
"We're already capturing this opportunity with the launch of new routes next summer which will provide more customers with greater choice and connectivity and we look forward to welcoming them on board."
Tom Screen, aviation director at Birmingham Airport, added: "easyJet started its base from Birmingham Airport in March this year and since then its expansion of routes has been phenomenal.
"The announcement of these two additional aircraft from summer 2025 ensures that even more routes and frequencies will be added direct from Birmingham Airport."
easyJet first flew from Birmingham in 2007 with direct flights to Geneva.
This latest expansion brings its fleet at the airport to five Airbus A320s and it operates up to 280 flights a week, offering 33 routes to 17 countries across Europe and North Africa.
