Marisa Garcia easyJet has announced its first ever route to Sweden with a new service from London Gatwick to Åre Östersund Airport starting on 11 December 2016, ideally timed for those who want to enjoy local snow sports.
The city of Östersund known as ’the Winter City’ is located on the eastern shore of Storsjön lake and offers just about any activity you’d want to enjoy on snow or ice during the winter months.
‘Medvinden’, a 50km long-distance skating track on Storsjön lake offers great skiing and the Winter Park, on the lakeshore was designed with children in mind and features ice castles, ice sculptures, and a huge skating rink. There are also plenty of restaurants and cafes.
Åre is the alpine heart of Scandinavia; a one hour transfer brings you to Scandinavia’s best winter sports including downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, tour skating, ice-fishing, horse and dog sledding, and snowmobile safaris. There are also around 50 bars and restaurants in the trendy northern European mountain village.
Neil Slaven, easyJet’s UK commercial Manager, said:
“Åre Östersund, which is located in Sweden’s Jämtland province, is a great skiing destination and we are sure it will prove a popular service for both skiers and snowboarders looking to explore the region.
“High profile sporting events such as the Alpine World Championships coupled with the ever increasing quality of ski resorts across Europe are helping to inspire first time skiers and contributing to the rise in popularity we are seeing amongst our customers for ski breaks.
“The Åre Ostersund area is also famous for both its location to nearby nature as well as winter activities such as horse and dog sleds and snowmobile safaris which make it a fantastic family destination. We are sure that our travellers from Gatwick will find the range of winter activities on offer very appealing.”
VisitSweden’s Ami Hovstadius, managing director VisitSweden UK:
“We are very excited to be working with easyJet on this new direct route to Åre Östersund Airport and Sweden’s top alpine ski resorts. More people are travelling to Sweden from the UK than ever before with the Swedish lifestyle, Scandi food and Nordic Noir proving irresistible. Sweden’s mountain region of Jämtland Härjedalen boasts not only with the country’s best ski resorts, like Åre and Vemdalen, but also has an abundance of winter outdoor activities and delicious food. We really look forward to welcoming the British holidaymaker to experience our winter lifestyle.”
With this launch, Sweden becomes the 32nd country in easyJet’s network and the 107th destination available from London Gatwick airport.
The winter only service will operate once per week on Sundays on an A320 aircraft. easyJet expects to carry 4,800 passengers in its first Winter of operation with fares starting from £30.49 one-way (including taxes and based on two people one the same booking).
easyJet offers more than three times as many flights and frequencies as any other UK airline to and from Europe’s ski destinations.
In addition to this new route the airline flies to Lyon, Saltzburg, Turin, Innsbruck, Grenoble.
To and from its largest gateway, Geneva in Switzerland, easyJet carries 190,000 passengers every week throughout the season.
On any given Saturday in January, easyJet will have up to 88 flights and carry over 12,000 customers throughout the day into Geneva alone.
