New Southampton Dijon service is launched

6 June 2011

Eastern Airways today (Monday 6 June 2011) launched a new summer service to Dijon in Eastern France from Southampton Airport.

The first passengers departing from Southampton all received a bottle of Cremant from the Burgundy region as they boarded the aircraft. The airline and airport staff also celebrated the new route launch with a Cremant replica cake.

This latest new French service from Southampton is part of the UK regional airline’s route expansion plans from its Dijon base, where it has been developing a network of services since September last year.

A 29-seater Jetstream 41 aircraft will operate the three times a week summer service on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays. Fares start from £75 one way, including taxes, and can be booked via the website www.easternairways.com or www.easternairways.fr or at travel agencies.

On Mondays, flights will depart Southampton at 12.50pm, arriving in Dijon at 3.40pm local time. Services leave Dijon at 11.30am and arrive in Southampton at 12.20pm local time.

Flights on Fridays take off from Southampton at 1.50pm, landing in Dijon at 4.40pm local time. Services leave Dijon at 12.30pm and arrive in Southampton at 1.20pm local time.

Sunday services leave Southampton at 1.40pm, arriving at 4.30pm local time. Flights leave Dijon at 12.10pm and land in Southampton at 1.10pm local time.

Kay Ryan, Eastern Airways’ commercial director, said: “Part of our expansion plans for Dijon was to provide a link to the South of England, and Southampton is the ideal gateway for us to offer this link for business travellers and tourists travelling between the two regions. Any travellers who have business in Dijon and beyond can also make use of our onward services to Bordeaux, Toulouse and Nantes from Dijon.”

Dave Lees, managing director for Southampton Airport commented: “We are absolutely delighted that Eastern Airways has started this brand new route from Southampton to Dijon for the summer. This new service is the first time regular air links have been established between the two cities, and means the airport is now able to offer a total of 15 destinations to France.

“This is the only international route from Dijon, and so these flights will make the UK accessible for the first time. Passengers travelling into Southampton will have easy and fast access across the south of England, and London is just 66 minutes away by train. This also provides an ideal way to travel to the Olympics in 2012 with easy access to the events in both London and Weymouth.”

The city of Dijon is the capital of the Cote d’Or and Bourgogne region and industry includes manufacturing, automobile, electronics, machinery and pharmaceuticals. The region has some of the country’s best wine producing vineyards, and of course Dijon is famous for its mustard.

In September 2010, Eastern Airways first set up a dedicated French base in Dijon with the launch of domestic flights to Bordeaux and Toulouse. Dijon – Nantes daily flights were added this month as part of the airline’s expansion plans and, Dijon’s only international service is the new Southampton link.

All Eastern Airways passengers travelling from Southampton gain access to a dedicated priority security channel to avoid any queues in security search. As passengers board the aircraft they will be greeted with a friendly warm welcome as the cabin crew provide an efficient service with complimentary hot and cold drinks, plus snacks. There are also no additional charges for check-in, hold baggage or choice of seat as Eastern Airways provides an all inclusive service.

Founded in 1997, Eastern Airways initially built its network of scheduled services around the North Sea offshore industry with flights up the east coast of England to Aberdeen. The airline now operates more flights from Aberdeen than any other carrier and has other key bases at Newcastle and Southampton. Domestic cross-country services also include Newcastle-Cardiff, Liverpool-Aberdeen, Southampton-Leeds Bradford, while the airline also offers Norwegian services to Stavanger and Bergen in Norway from Newcastle and Aberdeen. The airline is the UK’s second largest regional carrier and has a fleet of 30 aircraft flying from 22 airports in the UK, Ireland, Norway and France.

Image shows: Pictured with a Cremant replica cake is Kay Ryan (Commercial Director), Ben Leon (Director France) on the right, together with some of the Eastern Airways flight crew
Image copyright: Southampton Airport/Eastern Airways

For further information:

Contact: Darren Roberts, Eastern Airways Communications Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1652 681425 or +44 (0)7921 375211
Email:darren.roberts@easternairways.com

Contact: Debbie Rigney, Media & Communications Executive at Southampton Airport
Tel: +44 (0) 23 8062 7141
Email:debbie_rigney@baa.com
Web: www.EasternAirways.com