20 years today on 10 November, British low cost airline easyJet launched its first ever flight from Luton to Glasgow. easyJet has flown over 68 million passengers to 137 airports in 31 countries and operates 788 routes across Europe. It has a fleet of over 240 aircraft.
Captain Fred Rivett, who flew the first flight EZY121, a Boeing 737-20, Lisa Burger who checked in the first easyJet passenger and now the airline’s Head of Customer and easyJet’s founder Stelios joined passengers and media on board the airline’s first flight. All three and others from the airline’s early days were at easyJet’s headquarters in Luton for a special birthday event. Over 500 guests including media, stakeholders, suppliers as well as past and present staff attended the event.
A special livery aircraft which features a mosaic of over 100,000 customers’ selfies during their travels across Europe over the past twenty years.
easyJet trials wearable tech on Cabin Crew and Engineer Uniforms
easyJet will be trialling wearable tech features on the uniforms of Cabin Crew and Engineers. It has teamed up with fashion tech company CuteCircuit that is responsible for other groundbreaking ideas using small textiles and micro-electronics. It has collaborated with the likes of U2, Katy Perry and Nicole Scherzinger. These trials will start in early 2016.
Cabin crew uniforms
- LEDs on shoulders and illuminated hems to provide additional lighting in an emergency
- LEDs on jacket lapels displaying important information like flight numbers and destinations
- In-built microphones to improve communication between the crew, pilots and passengers
- LEDs in ground staff jacket cuffs to help with aircraft movement on the ground
Engineer uniforms
- LEDs in jacket hoods to illuminate work areas and leave both hands free for aircraft inspections and maintenance
- Multiple reflective laser cut decoration to aid visibility on the air field
- In-built video cameras to allow for remote diagnosis of technical issues along with surround sound and a microphone for instant communication capability
- Air quality sensor and barometer features to help engineers monitor their work environment and create a map of air quality in different cities for passengers’ information
easyJet To Launch Flight Club Early 2016
easyJet has also successfully trialled Flight Club, a recognition scheme to recognise its most frequent travellers. The 18 month trial of Flight Club involved some 15,000 high frequency travellers. It provided customers with increased flexibility on changes to bookings, a price promise and a dedicated customer service team.
easyJet will roll out the scheme across easyJet’s European network from early 2016. Customers will be invited to join Flight Club when they meet the qualifying criteria which are based around having booked and flown 20 or more flights and/or making a minimum spend with easyJet over a 12 month period. Full details will be announced closer to launch date. Flight Club will run alongside the easyJet Plus scheme that was launched in 2008 allowing customers free allocated seat choice, dedicated bag drop and fast boarding.
Hundreds of thousands of customers qualify for Flight Club based on criteria which match both airline’s most frequent flyers and its most loyal customers. They commute frequently on easyJet and are likely independent business travellers, second home owners, those in long distance relationships or have family and friends living elsewhere in Europe.
Benefits include:
- Fee free flight changes – we recognise things can change so members can make changes without paying admin fees
- Free name changes – up to five name changes per year completely free
- Our price promise – We promise passengers will always get the best price fares from easyJet. If on a rare occasion passengers find the same flight on easyjet.com at a lower price, we’ll give them the price difference towards their next flight. Our customer support team are on hand, so passengers can give them a call
- Previews and special offers – members will be the first to know what’s coming up so they will receive exclusive previews of new routes and special offers
- Dedicated contact centre team – to access these benefits
