Snail, sangria and spicy tagine – easyJet and easyJet holidays unveil bonkers new ice creams to celebrate London Southend Airport base opening

 Snail, sangria and spicy tagine are among the weird and wonderful flavours of ice-cream developed by easyJet and easyJet holidays to celebrate the opening of a new base at London Southend Airport

Holidaymakers travelling through the airport were served the new range of ‘jet-lato’ treats on the first flights departing this morning, bound for new destinations now operating from London Southend, including Palma, Malta and Pisa.  

The limited edition range of five flavours, which have been created by the airline and holidays company, invoke the flavours of the destinations which customers can now travel to from the airport.  

They include a spin on the French classic ‘Escargot’ which mixes snail infused garlic ice cream with crunchy pieces to give a ‘snail shell’ effect, and an original twist on the much-loved Italian dish ‘Cacio e pepe’ which includes lemon zest, parmesan and cracked black pepper.  

The Willy Wonka-esque flavours were tested on the discerning palates of Southend residents who are no strangers to tasty ice creams.  The new ‘jet-lato’ range of easyJet and easyJet holidays ice creams include:

• ‘Escargot’ (France – Paris) Snail infused garlic ice cream with crunchy pieces to give a 'snail shell' effect inspiring people to take off to Paris
• ‘Spicy Tagine’ (Morocco – Marrakech) Apricots and Moroccan spices reflecting the tastes and bringing the senses of the Moroccan souks. ‘Cacio e pepe’ (Italy - Pisa) Lemon zest, parmesan and crackled black pepper, inspired by the iconic pasta dish 
• 'Sangria and Chocolate’ (Spain - Alicante, Almeria, Gran Caria, Malaga, Palma, Reus, Tenerife) Fruity sangria infused ice cream giving a taste of Spanish afternoons in summertime
• ‘Pastel de Nata’ (Portugal – Faro) A rich custard tart-flavored ice cream

The new base at London Southend is now home to three easyJet A320neo aircraft, supporting around 1,200 jobs including 140 direct jobs for pilots and cabin crew. The airline is serving 122 flights per week on 20 routes from Southend to leisure destinations across Europe and North Africa - a 133% increase vs. last summer. The new base provides over 330,000 seats for holidays customers to choose from when planning their getaway for this summer. London Southend is easyJet’s 10th UK base opening, following the launch of Birmingham International Airport last year, as the airline responds to increased consumer demand for flights and package holidays.

The airline and holidays compare are anticipating their largest ever summer season with seven more aircraft joining easyJet’s UK fleet from Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and London Southend, providing half a million more seats this summer across the airline’s network spanning Europe and North Africa.

Garry Wilson, easyJet holidays CEO commented:

“Southend is synonymous with ice-cream, and what better way to celebrate our newest base than with something that for many also represents the joy of holidays, by offering customers a literal taste of their next trip!

“With flights and thousands of package holidays now available to 20 destinations from London Southend, this will not only enable us to serve many more customers, providing value and more choice, but also supports critical connectivity and jobs for the UK, as we get set for our biggest ever summer.”

-  ENDS -

For more information, please contact Jenna Dowling at Taylor Herring – jenna.dowling@taylorherring.com

About easyJet

easyJet is one of Europe’s largest airlines offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe's primary airports with great value fares and friendly service. easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline and carried more than 100 million passengers in 2024. The airline has over 340 aircraft flying on over 1,000 routes to more than 160 airports across 35 countries. Over 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport.

 easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in nine countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports several local charities and has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £17m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

In 2022, easyJet published its roadmap to net zero by 2050. The roadmap, which also features a combination of fleet renewal, operational efficiencies, airspace modernisation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel and carbon removal technology, has set an ambitious interim carbon emissions intensity reduction target of 35% by 2035, validated by the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi). The airline’s ultimate aim is to fully transition its fleet to zero carbon emission technology, which it will achieve through a number of strategic partnerships including with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace Solutions. Since 2000, the airline has successfully reduced its carbon emissions per passenger, per kilometre by one-third and is the number 1 ESG rated airline in Europe by Sustainalytics, MSCI and CDP.

Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA – since launching nearly 30 years ago, easyJet changed the way people fly to the present day where the airline leads the industry in digital and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for its passengers. In 2023 easyJet was named by TIME as one of the World’s Best Companies and a Leader in Diversity 2024 by The Financial Times.

About easyJet Holidays: 

easyJet holidays, which launched in 2019, is a leading package holiday operator, having taken over 2.5 million customers away in 2024.  Named UK & Ireland Travel Company of the Year in 2024, it offers great-value beach and city holidays to over 7000 hotels, in more than 100 destinations across Europe, directly through its website and through over 7000 travel agent partners. The ATOL-protected holidays can be secured with a deposit of just £60 per person, including flights and hotel, with 23kg luggage and transfers on beach holidays. easyJet holidays is a member of ABTA, and all packages are covered by its Ultimate Flexibility, offering freedom to change a booking, a refund guarantee, and best price guarantee. In 2024 the holiday provider also started operating from Switzerland, France and Germany.

Winners of the Sustainable Future Award, easyJet holidays’ sustainability strategy, ‘Holiday Better’, focuses on three key pillars – create better holiday choices which is about making sustainable travel affordable and accessible to everyone; keep our holidays special which is maximising the benefits and minimising the negative impacts of travel and tourism, and transform travel for everyone which means embedding sustainability into business decisions and behaviours and driving meaningful change in the industry.

The tour operator has partnered with UN Tourism to help develop the first environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework for tourism businesses, co-designing a measurement tool that is meaningful and feasible for better monitoring how tourism businesses impact, and depend on, people, planet and prosperity. easyJet holidays has been named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2023 and 2024, as well as being named one of the Best Workplaces in Travel 2023.