easyJet sells its Stansted slot portfolio to Ryanair

As we covered in the Summer, easyJet has decided to withdraw from Stansted airport in favour of continued growth at London Gatwick.

There will still be some services to the airport but these will be operated by aircraft and crew based elsewhere.

easyJet has confirmed that Ryanair has purchased 312 of its weekly slots at the airport. As each flight requires two slots, this equates to 22 new Ryanair services per day.

Ryanair will not have paid a huge amount for the slots, as Stansted is not full. It could have let easyJet surrender the slots and then take its chances with a request to pick them up, but paying cash guarantees that the better timed ones do not go elsewhere.

Based on adding together 2019 numbers, Ryanair will now carry 84% of all passengers from Stansted. This is a little inflated, however, as not all easyJet traffic will cease. Jet2 will now become the second largest operator at the airport.

It looks like US airline JetBlue will also be arriving at Stansted soon. More on this tomorrow.