EasyJet announces surprise closure of its base at Toulouse airport
It is not known if it will maintain all its current routes from the airport, which include UK flights. Other changes are expected to its French operations
EasyJet planes will not be based at the airport from next spring onwards
Simone Previdi / Shutterstock
Low-cost carrier EasyJet has announced that it will be closing its base at Toulouse-Blagnac airport after 10 years.
The airline confirmed that it would no longer use the airport as a base for two of its aircraft, citing a slow post-Covid recovery and the current economic situation.
The two planes will be removed from Toulouse-Blagnac in spring 2025. They will be transferred to Nantes and Lyon airports.
However, the airline said it would be maintaining flight routes to and from the airport, although schedules may change from spring.
It is currently not known if any services will be cancelled due to the base closure but the airline said “is committed to continuing to serve Toulouse as a destination and to offering flights to Toulouse, connecting the city to major destinations in France and internationally.”
EasyJet runs two UK-Toulouse services to London and Bristol, however the majority of its traffic at the airport comes from domestic French flights.
There are seven, with flights running to Paris, Nice, Nantes, Lyon, Lille, Mulhouse, and Rennes.
Flights also serve destinations in Italy, Morocco, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal.
The continuation of services after the base closes makes this case different to the imminent exit of Ryanair from Bordeaux-Mérignac airport.
The Irish low-cost carrier is ending all flights to and from the city in October 2024, and is leaving Bordeaux due to a row over basing fees.
Read more: Bordeaux airport: ‘Ryanair pulling out was our worst-case scenario’
More base closures on the way?
The EasyJet announcement means 125 staff based at the airport will no longer be able to work there. The company has offered all of these employees a relocation package to other French airports where EasyJet operates.
However, EasyJet confirmed further changes to its operations in France are on the way.
The company is planning “the transfer of an aircraft from Paris Charles de Gaulle [Roissy] to Paris Orly and a limited voluntary redundancy plan for cabin crew at three of the airline's French bases,” said Bertrand Godinot, head of EasyJet in France.
“Our proposal does not include any forced redundancies,” he added, however the company hopes around 30 out of the 1,800 current employees in the country will be moved on.
EasyJet currently operates six other bases alongside the one in Toulouse - Paris Orly, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Lyon, Nice, Bordeaux and Nantes.
It is currently unknown which bases are set to be affected by redundancy plans.
Despite this, the company is seeing increased traffic in France, and predicts an increase in passenger numbers in the country by around 5% this winter. It is the second largest airline in France.
