Three decades ago, that was almost revolutionary: plane tickets at prices that seemed impossible. They had trade-offs —fewer services or secondary airports—, although they opened a door that until then was closed for many travelers: flying around Europe at unbeatable prices.
easyJet based its start on that idea, a company born in an almost artisanal way at the British airport of Luton, with second-hand planes that were not even its property.
Thirty years later, the airline has celebrated two symbolic anniversaries: three decades of operations in Spain and ten years since the opening of its base at Barcelona Airport, inaugurated in February 2016.
To commemorate it, the company gathered representatives from the air, institutional, and tourism sectors in Barcelona for a round table to analyze the role of aviation in territorial competitiveness and the regulatory and environmental challenges of the next decade.
Founded in 1995 by the Greek-Cypriot businessman Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet began operating domestic flights in the United Kingdom before rapidly expanding its low-cost model across Europe. Spain quickly appeared on its destination map: in 1996, it inaugurated its first route to the country with a flight between London Luton and Barcelona.
Thirty years later, the airline claims to have transported nearly 270 million passengers to and from Spain, consolidating itself as the fourth company in the national market. It currently operates four bases (Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, and Alicante) and employs more than 900 people.
In the case of Barcelona, the base opened in 2016 has become a pillar of its network in Southern Europe. It is also easyJet's only base in Spain that operates all year round, while others like Palma or Malaga are more seasonal.
From El Prat, the company operates with four permanently based A319 aircraft and, during the 2025 fiscal year, transported approximately 2.5 million passengers to and from the city, out of the approximately 18 million it moved in Spain, with growth close to 7%. Of these, about 800,000 passengers originated in Barcelona.
easyJet's presence at Barcelona airport also has an operational singularity: it is the only airline that uses Terminal 2C, a space that between 1992 and 2009 was exclusive to the historic Air Shuttle between Barcelona and Madrid and for executive aviation. Today it practically functions as its own enclave for the orange company, facilitating both Schengen and non-Schengen operations —especially with the United Kingdom— from gates M and R.
The digital hub and the table
In addition to this operational deployment, there is also a strategic element: Barcelona hosts since this year the first hubeasyJet's European digital hub, dedicated to product development, engineering, artificial intelligence, and data analysis for the company. During the round table, the participants reflected on the role of air connectivity in the competitiveness of European cities. ForMateu Hernández,general director of the Turisme de Barcelona consortium, the change experienced by the city in these three decades has been enormous."When easyJet arrived in Barcelona, much was still to be done. Turisme de Barcelona had practically just been born and the tourist city model was under construction," he recalled. According to him, the evolution of the sector has also led to a change in focus: "Before, the priority was to attract visitors; now it is to manage success. Hence the shift from the message Visit Barcelona to the current This is Barcelona."
From the airport perspective, Eva Valenzuela, director of Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, stressed that traffic growth requires working in both the short and long term. Major airport expansions are not expected to materialize until the middle of the next decade, but infrastructure improvements are already underway. "While the big projects arrive, the meantime is just as important," she noted, referring to the improvement works already being carried out in Terminal 2 that will be visible in the short term.
Among these actions is also the future construction of a hotel within the airport complex itself, something striking in an airport the size of Barcelona, which until now did not have this type of integrated facility.
For his part, Javier Gándara, easyJet's general director for Southern Europe and global head of public policy for the company, defended the importance of air connectivity for the European economy. Gándara is also president of the Airline Association (ALA), a position that, when he holds it, is even distinguished by his attire: when he acts as president of ALA he wears a tie; when he represents easyJet, he does not.
During the debate ---without a tie---, he introduced an unusual image in sector analyses: "Sometimes I think that in aviation there should be an 'achuchabilidad' index," he said with a smile. "In few industries is customer satisfaction measured as much as in airports, when you see people hugging upon arrival."
A nice way to summarize what, three decades after its arrival in Barcelona on a flight from Luton, remains the heart of the business: bringing people, cities, and economies closer through air connectivity. A formula that continues to be key for the development and international projection of cities open to the world like Barcelona.