Budget airline BmiBaby yesterday laid down the gauntlet to rival EasyJet by announcing plans to compete head-to-head at Gatwick airport, in its first venture into the London market.
The low-cost offshoot of BMI British Midland, based at Nottingham East Midlands airport, is to begin flights from the Sussex airport on April 30 to Cork and Prague.
EasyJet intends to begin services from Gatwick to Prague the next day as part of its expansion into eastern Europe, setting up a fierce fight to capture travellers to the Czech city, which has been dubbed the "stag party capital of Europe".
Both airlines will offer fares from £40 return. BmiBaby's managing director, Tony Davis, said: "This is a very major step forward for us. We're going from being a regional airline to entering the south-east, which was the missing part of the UK jigsaw."
Gatwick has become a significant base for EasyJet, despite early concerns that the busy airport would struggle to deliver the fast turnaround times required by budget airlines. EasyJet also announced yesterday that it was to fly from Gatwick to Naples, Ibiza and Faro.
EasyJet yesterday set its sights on the European Union's newest entrants by revealing that it intends to begin serving Budapest and the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. Flights to both cities will begin on May 1, the day they become part of the EU. An EasyJet spokeswoman said: "We've been looking at eastern European countries for quite some time."
Ljubljana will be one of two new EasyJet destinations from Stansted, alongside Basle. Luton will serve Budapest.
