easyJet will base a fourth A320neo at Southend from summer 2027 and fly to Rhodes twice a week from 27 April. The airport expects to pass a million passengers next year and employ more than 400 people.

easyJet will base a fourth aircraft at London Southend Airport from next summer, and Rhodes becomes the airport’s first Greek destination on 27 April. The airline and the airport announced both on Thursday (London Southend Airport, 24 September).

The Rhodes flights run twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with fares from £69.98. The fourth aircraft is another Airbus A320neo. A based aircraft starts and ends its day at Southend, which is what allows the airline to add routes rather than only frequencies.

The numbers the airport is putting on it

The announcement carries two sets of figures. Both come from the airport and easyJet, not from an independent source, and we report them as their claims.

  • Each UK-based aircraft supports “around 400 direct and indirect jobs” and “£27 million UK gross value added”, according to the release.
  • Jude Winstanley, the airport’s chief executive, said: “We expect passenger numbers to pass the one million mark in 2027, while our continued growth will also create more local jobs.”
  • She added: “We expect to employ more than 400 people directly next year.”

The airport also says it was the UK’s fastest growing airport in 2025, with passengers up 150% on 2024, and that it offers 31 destinations year round with routes to Belfast City, Budapest, Edinburgh, Lyon, Rhodes and Sharm El Sheikh launching in the next 12 months.

Winstanley said Greece “was one of the obvious gaps in our network”, and that the airport is “excited to see what other new destinations the fourth based A320neo will bring for Summer 2027”. Kevin Doyle, easyJet’s UK country manager, said the extra aircraft “will enable us to build on that growth by offering even more fantastic destinations”.

Where it fits in the launch calendar

Rhodes joins a run of new routes we set out on Wednesday, each with a published start date on the airport’s own destination pages:

Timeline of easyJet route launches from London Southend Airport: Munich started 17 September 2026; Belfast City 25 October; Budapest 26 October; Edinburgh 29 October; Rovaniemi 30 November; Lyon 3 December; Sharm El Sheikh 4 January 2027; Rhodes 27 April 2027, when a fourth based aircraft arrives.
Graphic by Southend Today
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX
  • Munich started on 17 September, Thursdays and Sundays
  • Belfast City from 25 October
  • Budapest from 26 October
  • Edinburgh from 29 October
  • Rovaniemi from 30 November
  • Lyon from 3 December
  • Sharm El Sheikh from 4 January 2027
  • Rhodes from 27 April 2027, Tuesdays and Saturdays

The airport had the best on-time performance in the UK in the second quarter of this year, a figure we checked against the Civil Aviation Authority’s own data in our punctuality report.

What it means for you

  • Booking for Rhodes opens now for travel from 27 April 2027, on Tuesdays and Saturdays only. A twice-weekly service means a four-day or an eleven-day trip, not a week.
  • Jobs: the airport says it expects to employ more than 400 people directly in 2027. It has not published how many it employs today, so the size of the increase is not stated.
  • Getting there: the airport’s own station is on the Greater Anglia line from Southend Victoria, and from 25 October the new 62A bus runs to the terminal from the Travel Centre.

Sources