Easyjet has found a way to add seats at Amsterdam’s slot-limited Schiphol Airport by flying larger planes. It’s now putting its new A321s on routes to the Dutch city formerly flown by A320s and A319s.
Airbus has already spent two years squeezing more seats into its A320s, upping the count from 180 to 186. Now, on its densest routes, it will fly its 240-seat A321s.
Schiphol is limited, at least through 2020, to 500,000 aircraft movements, and plans to raise the limit or to send some traffic to an alternate airport have not moved forward. Amsterdam is Easyjet’s biggest base outside Britain, so the airline is especially concerned about capacity. It’s even been lobbying for more slots to be assigned to the ‘cleanest’ planes.
Some relief is expected as air traffic between London and Amsterdam should be reduced by the new direct Eurostar service between the cities, but that will only provide a small relief. And, ironically, that route is one of Easyjet’s busiest, and will, at least for now, be flown with the A321s.
