The budget airline easyJet has announced it will begin operating flights between Gatwick Airport and the island of Sal in Cape Verde from March 31 next year.
This will become its longest route from England – a distance of 2,332 nautical miles and a flight that will take almost six hours – stealing the spot of the current longest, between Manchester and the Egyptian resort of Hurghada (2,240 nautical miles).
easyJet’s longest route will remain across its entire network – Belfast and Hurghada (2,400 nautical miles).
Three return flights are set to operate between Gatwick and Sal each week, using A320neo aircraft. They are scheduled to last up to five hours and 50 minutes.
Sal will be the first destination in sub-Saharan Africa served by easyJet.
The island of Sal is one of the three sandy eastern islands of the Cape Verde archipelago, 350 miles off the west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.
It boasts white sandy beaches and over 350 days of sunshine a year and is also known for year-round kiteboarding and its large reserve of loggerhead sea turtles.
In 1939, Italy constructed an airport to receive flights from Europe and South America. Construction was halted and ceased around World War II, but the Portuguese bought it and eventually finished in 1949.
easyJet holidays is also launching package holidays, offering a range of hotels, including five-star Melia resorts, with options for families, adults-only, and couples.
Gatwick-Sal was among the 26 new summer routes announced by easyJet, 21 of which will serve the UK.
Ali Gayward, easyJet UK country manager, said: “We’re proud to be releasing such an incredible range of new routes and package holidays, providing more choice for customers to visit more of the places they love across Europe and to experience some incredible new destinations.
“This includes a milestone route for easyJet to beautiful Cape Verde, our first-ever sub-Saharan service.
“Our continued growth and investment in the UK and the connectivity we offer our customers highlights the importance of the market for us, where this year we operated more flights than ever before.
“So with 21 new services now available from 10 airports across the UK, our flights and holidays are available to even more new destinations next summer, providing customers with even more fantastic choice and great value.”
Other new easyJet routes include twice weekly flights from Gatwick to Rimini, Italy, from April 16 to June 23, three weekly flights from Manchester to Madrid, two weekly flights from Birmingham to Gran Canara from May 2 to April 2, and weekly flights from Leeds Bradford to Malaga from April 2.
According to its website, the budget airline’s short-haul network now offers over 1,000 routes to over 160 airports in 37 countries.