EasyJet has teamed up with children’s weekly newspaper First News with the aim of helping parents keep their young travellers entertained and engaged during holiday flights to Faro.
Between today (7 February) and 28 February all UK customers flying with EasyJet are being offered a free two-month digital subscription to the weekly newspaper. They can obtain access to the subscription via details in EasyJet’s digital inflight Traveller Magazine as well as on selected boarding cards, enabling them to download First News on personal devices before take-off.
According to EasyJet, the collaboration follows research by the charity National Literacy Trust which found that three in 10 children and young people are reading daily in their free time, the lowest rate since the beginning of the pandemic.
“EasyJet has long championed reading for young travellers, encouraging children to get hooked on a book as part of its three-year summer flying library the ‘Flybrary’ – providing children’s books to borrow onboard across thousands of flights since 2017 – and most recently last summer helping young flyers to explore different languages onboard through its free Mizzi Mozzi language learning e-books.”
Commenting on the offer, EasyJet’s UK country manager Ali Gayward said, “The return of test-free travel in time for the half term break will be welcome news for so many families. We are always striving to ensure we make travel easy and fun for young flyers and our partnership with First News is another initiative designed to help kids flying with us get engaged in reading during the holidays, which we believe will be popular with parents and children alike. With low fares from just £9.99, so many fantastic destinations to choose from and leading flexibility, now is a great time to book with easyJet.”
Added First News editor-in-chief Nicky Cox, “We are delighted to be partnering with EasyJet, who share our passion for getting young people reading. Expertly written by experienced, unbiased journalists, First News gives children access to factual, impartial news and entertainment from the UK and around the world.
“First News is at the forefront of ensuring children have access to reliable, trustworthy and age-appropriate news curated especially for them. It takes the fear out of sensationalised world events that children hear, giving them a balanced and truthful view of the world, carefully and sensitively explaining the background to stories in the news.
“In our news coverage, First News counters over-reported negative news in other areas of the media by showing that there is much more good news in the world than bad – and many more good people than bad. First News gives children a voice about the issues they care about.”
Family-Friendly Travel
EasyJet has several family-friendly policies in place, including priority boarding for passengers travelling with children under five years of age, and allowing up to two additional items to be brought on board at no additional cost. “If customers need these items to get to the gate, such as a push-chair, these can be then placed in the cabin or hold when families arrive at the gate, free of charge.” Click here for more information.
Gatwick Anniversary
This month EasyJet is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its London Gatwick base, which is linked to Faro Airport with regular low-cost flights.
EasyJet’s operation began with a single Gatwick-based aircraft, a locally employed crew and routes to Barcelona (the first flight, on 1 February 2002, on a Boeing 737) followed by Edinburgh, Zurich, Málaga and Palma throughout the same month. Previously, flying had only been in-bound from its bases in Geneva, Nice and Amsterdam.
Since then the airline has flown over 200 million passengers to and from the airport, and now has an all-Airbus A320 family fleet including the more fuel-efficient and quieter neo type. It introduced its first-ever A321neo into the fleet in 2018 – also based at Gatwick.
The airline plans to operate 79 aircraft from Gatwick airport this summer, and now serves over 120 routes across Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East.
Valentine’s Gift Cards from Ryanair
Meanwhile, another major low-cost airline operating at Faro Airport has its sights set on a different kind of celebration later this month – on the 14th. Inviting couples to “Fly On The Wings Of Love”, Ryanair is offering “the perfect gift for those last-minute shoppers looking to impress their special someone this Valentine’s Day – Ryanair gift cards.”
Couples can choose a Ryanair gift card from the company’s 230-plus destinations (including Faro) across 37 countries. The gift cards start at £25 and are delivered straight to the client’s inbox, “making them an ideal last-minute gift that will have your loved one flying high this Valentine’s Day”.
