EasyJet officially launches this Thursday, April 4 at the airport of Atlantic Nantes, the opening of its seventh operational base in France. No fewer than 14 new lines will be opened this year, adding to the 13 existing lines. Since 31 march, eight of them have already travellers in nantes, france new destinations: Bilbao, Copenhagen, Rome, Granada, Tenerife, Marrakech, Catania, Ibiza or Tel Aviv are now available. Other services will be covered for the summer period, such as Dubrovnik and Bastia. A local base that will allow, according to the british company, to carry "more than 1.8 million passengers each year and hold the "25% of the annual traffic of the airport". To achieve this, three A320 aircraft will be based year-round on the slopes nantaises. The new base of easyJet has led to the creation of 110 local jobs under contract to French law, which nearly 40 pilot positions, and 70 posts of cabin crew, shared between the air hostesses and stewards.

" READ ALSO - Brexit, kerosene, price war... easyJet is not immune to the turbulence.

A strategic development for easyJet, which is facing the fierce competition of Transavia. The subsidiary low-cost airline of the group Air France-KLM has increased its transport capacity on the airport of Nantes of nearly 70% compared to last year. In anticipation of the summer season, five new lines will be in service as early as April 7, in the direction of Budapest, Copenhagen, Santorini, Palermo and Mykonos.

The goal is clear for both companies: they want to increase their share of the respective market within the airport of Nantes, a true "growth potential" according to François Bacchetta, ceo of easyJet in France. The latest data of the Union of French airports illuminate this finding. With nearly 7 million passengers in 2018, an increase of 12.9% compared to 2017, Nantes has the 9th airport is the busiest in France. And the abandonment of the project of Notre-Dame-Des-Landes will cause a "redevelopment" of the airport of Nantes to allow him to accommodate more passengers," according to the words of the Prime minister, Édouard Philippe. Nine million passengers are expected by 2040.

on The side of easyJet, in addition to the openings of lines in Nantes, the company's low-cost plans for this summer's four new destinations from Bordeaux and two from Lyon. The deployment door 250 the number of lines easyJet to and from France. A development that allows it to occupy the second place of the airlines of the Hexagon, behind Air France, with 15.6% of market share. Present in nineteen airports, it is ahead of its direct competitors Ryanair and Transavia. But the sky could darken for easyJet. Announcing a few days ago to a loss of 319 million euros between October 2018 and march 2019, the british group is concerned about the blur this for months around the Brexit: "many questions remain unanswered", indicated Monday, Johan Lundgren, the new boss of Swedish easyJet. The price war among players in the low-cost airline in Europe does not help and does not leave room for errors. Since last summer, the planes of seven airlines low-cost no longer take off. Latest victim, the company of iceland's WOW Air has declared bankruptcy last week.