UK low-fare carrier easyJet has confirmed it will maintain Flybe’s operation between London Gatwick and Jersey when the carrier withdraws its services from the UK capital in spring 2014 following the sale of its 25 slot pairs at London Gatwick to easyJet earlier this year. easyJet said it will launch a three times daily year-round service on the route from March 30, 2014 using its 156-seat Airbus A319s, its 102 destination from London Gatwick, its largest operational base.

The new London Gatwick link brings the total number of easyJet routes to the island to five alongside its existing services from London Southend, Liverpool, Glasgow and Newcastle. The flight schedule has been devised to meet the demand from business and leisure travellers with a morning, afternoon and evening departure each way. The additional capacity will also further boost tourism to the island with the daily flights giving maximum flexibility for those visiting Jersey on short or long breaks.

"We are pleased to confirm the introduction of easyJet's new flights between London Gatwick and Jersey from spring 2014, which underlines our continued commitment to serving the destinations that our customers tell us that they want to fly to on our easy and affordable services,” explained Cath Lynn, commercial director, easyJet Group.

"The new early flight which departs London Gatwick at 07:00 will allow business travellers to reach Jersey in time for a full day of meetings while the evening departure enables them to fly home on the same day and offers travellers from Jersey a full day in the capital and evening flights back,” she added.

Alongside the existing Flybe operation, British Airways also offers direct flights between Jersey and London Gatwick while Channel Islands operators Aurigny Air Services and Blue Islands serve other London airports. According to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data 553,962 passengers travelled on the route between Jersey and London Gatwick in 2012. MIDT data suggests that Flybe handled around 37.9 per cent of the total 516,000 bi-directional O&D passengers that flew on the route that same year.