Following a rigorous and comprehensive process, easyJet earlier this year applied to Austro Control for an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and to Austria’s Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) for an airline operating licence.
The accreditation process is now well advanced and easyJet hopes to receive the AOC and licence in the near future.
These will allow easyJet to establish a new airline, easyJet Europe, which will be headquartered in Vienna and will enable easyJet to continue to operate flights both across Europe and domestically within European countries after the UK has left the EU (regardless of the outcome of talks on a future UK-EU aviation agreement).
The people and planes that will fly for easyJet Europe are already employed and based in EU27 countries.
1. easyJet is making this announcement as the AOC approval process requires the updating of easyJet’s safety systems and processes which will make public the regulator easyJet has applied to.
2. The criteria for selection were rooted in finding a regulator that would be the best fit for easyJet. Austro Control has a rigorous approach to safety regulation, contributing to EASA’s drive towards shaping future safety regulation with an emphasis on performance based safety regulation.
3. The new structure means that easyJet would become a pan European airline group with three airlines based in Austria, Switzerland and the UK. All of these will be owned by easyJet plc which itself will be EU owned and controlled, listed on the London Stock Exchange and based in the UK.
4. While the new structure will protect all of easyJet’s current flying rights within Europe, easyJet will continue to push for the UK and EU to reach an aviation agreement which, at a minimum, will enable flights between the UK and EU.
5. easyJet currently bases around 100 aircraft and employs around 4000 people across six EU27 countries who will form the basis of easyJet Europe, and does so on local contracts in their based countries and in full compliance with local and EU rules and regulations.
6. The establishment of easyJet Europe will create a number of new jobs in Austria, but no jobs will move from the UK to Austria. All of easyJet’s UK employees will continue to be based in Luton and our 11 UK bases and employed as they are today.
7. easyJet has operated in Austria for 11 years, flying more than a million passengers in 2017. Last year easyJet increased the number of passengers it carried to and from Austria by 60%.
