easyJet launches flights outside the EU

easyJet are set to shake up mainstream low-cost flying in Europe by expanding outside the EU, and even outside Europe.

They have announced that they will launch new routes to the Turkish capital, Istanbul (Sabiha), and Marrakech in Morocco.

Flights to Istanbul (Sabiha) will begin on 24 May 2006 from Basel and London (Luton) on 29 June. easyJet will begin flying between London (Gatwick) and Marrakech on 06 July. They will also launch a route between London (Luton) and Rijeka in Croatia on 30 June.

This move has prompted changes here at flycheapo. As a European guide, we did not previously cover Morocco. Given the clear intention to expand to neighbouring countries, we have decided to relax our definition of Europe (which already included Turkey), to include the North African country of Morocco.

We will take this opportunity to include additional airlines and routes, and will be upgrading shortly. This will include Moroccan low-cost airline, Atlas Blue, who already operate on the route easyJet are launching.