A new route from Birmingham will be part of a network operated by easyJet from a summer seasonal base in Malaga.
The new Spanish base is in addition to those at Barcelona and Palma as the budget carrier prepares to respond to increased demand due to different European countries progressively re-opening for tourism.
The airline will base 12 aircraft in Spain where it has on more than 400 employees.
The new Birmingham route to the Costa del Sol gateway airport will operate from June 29 to October 30.
The airline isn to serve 14 destinations from Malaga this summer, including London, Berlin, Geneva, Paris and Amsterdam.
The plans come despite Spain being on the amber list requiring ten days quarantine on return to England but follows the country opening its borders to international arrivals.
Malaga’s mayor Francisco de la Torre said: “This is good news since the opening of this new base in Malaga in itself generates jobs in the territory, but it is also an indicator that the airline is committed to the destination, has growth expectations and invests in it.
“In fact, we aspire to go from seasonal to permanent throughout the year. It should also be remembered that in the year before the pandemic – 2019 – easyJet was the second airline in Malaga with 14 routes and 2.5 million passengers.”
Javier Gandara, easyJet southern Europe general director, said: “With more than 36 million passengers carried since 1999, Malaga was until now the most popular destination of our network where we didn’t have a base.
“Despite a challenging context for the sector, we believe that opening what will be easyJet’s second Spanish seasonal base in Malaga – and the third in the country – is an opportunity to expand our operations in Spain, where we are the fourth largest airline.
“With Europe progressively reopening for tourism, we know that there is pent-up demand for travel, and we retain the flexibility to ramp up quickly our operations to meet that demand and a seasonal base provides us with a solution that perfectly fits with the needs of the market, constituting another example of an innovative initiative that makes our business model even more efficient.”
Spanish tourism secretary general Manuel Munoz added: “The fact that a company that moves a volume of travellers as high as easyJet, has opened a new base in Andalusia in the current context demonstrates the strength of the community and that of Costa del Sol as a destination, and the confidence it generates in one of the main airlines.”