Low-cost airline easyJet will resume daily return flights to Paris from Liverpool John Lennon Airport later this year. Tony McDonough reports
Daily flights to Paris from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) will resume later this year, easyJet says.
From October 30 easyJet will offer daily flights to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport as part of its winter schedule. Single fares currently start at £22.99.
Main low-cost rival to easyJet, Irish carrier Ryanair, currently offers return flights between Liverpool to the French capital on Tuesdays and Saturdays. However, it uses Beauvais Airport which is 55 miles from the centre of Paris.
Travelling between Beauvais, which is much smaller than Charles de Gaulle, and Paris is both difficult and expensive. A taxi ride will cost between €170 and €210. There is no direct train connection to Paris. However, there are trains from the town of Beauvais which is located around 2.5 miles from the airport.
In contrast, Charles de Gaulle is a major international hub and is much better connected to Paris. It is located just 22 miles from the city centre and a taxi will cost no more than €60. There are also trains to Paris every 15 minutes.
Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK country manager, said: “We’re delighted to be adding new routes and resuming more services across our UK network for this winter. We are offering our customers more choice to enjoy an even greater range of destinations at fantastic low fares.”
However, passengers will hope easyJet will have addressed the staffing and capacity issues that have led to two multiple summer cancellations. In June the carrier said it was scaling back capacity for July to September from 97% to 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
The company, which operates 25 routes out of Liverpool, said it was not able to say exactly how many flights would be cancelled. However, it added passengers would get advance notice.
Ryanair, in contrast, has suffered far fewer problems this summer after better anticipating the post-pandemic surge in demand. It operates more than 30 flights out of Liverpool. In Early July, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary warned of fare rises in 2023 due to soaring fuel costs.
“It’s got too cheap for what it is,” he said. “I find it absurd every time that I fly to Stansted, the train journey into central London is more expensive than the air fare.”