easyJet announces its new longest flight ever along with 17 more routes

easyJet has announced its longest route to date (Picture: Getty Images)

Famous for budget European holidays, you’d be forgiven for thinking that boarding an easyJet flight usually involves a short-haul journey.

Now, though, the airline has launched its longest-ever flight, and it’ll be departing from Amsterdam, a classic favourite among Brits, to the eternally sunny island of Sal, in Cape Verde, from October 2026.

The route takes around seven hours and 20 minutes, which makes it the longest on easyJet’s current flight schedule, according to Simple Flying.

As the easyJet website shows, flights are available to book from Amsterdam to Sal, off the coast of West Africa, from October 27.

At the time of writing, routes departing on the launch date and returning on November 3 are available for £124.

There are more affordable options available between November 17 and 24, currently priced at £120 return. The same rate is available between December 1 and December 8, if you’re looking for some pre-Christmas sun.

At the moment, Brits can also fly to Sal from London Gatwick, which was, last year, announced as the then-longest route the airline was offering. Cape Verde was also easyJet’s first-ever destination in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sal is famous for its year-round sun (Picture: Getty Images)

However, considering that this British route takes around six hours and spans a distance of 2,346 nautical miles, the new Amsterdam offering has come for its title, with a distance of approximately 2,503 miles and a slightly longer flight time.

This new connection isn’t the only one that’s been announced.

Belfast International is also gaining routes to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, as well as Rome Fiumicino, while the good people of Birmingham will now be able to fly to Agadir–Al Massira Airport in Morocco.

The inaugural Belfast-Sharm-El-Sheikh route will be jetting off on October 25. Flights returning three days later, on October 28, are currently available for £543.79 in total.

EasyJet has also added the following routes for winter 2026/2027:

Bordeaux: Agadir, Málaga and Gran Canaria London Luton: Ljubljana London Southend: Budapest Nantes: Brussels and Essaouira Newcastle: Fuerteventura, Kraków and Reykjavík Nice: Giza Paris Charles De Gaulle: Southampton.

That’s not all that’s going on in the world of budget travel at the moment. Last week, Ryanair announced that check-in and bag drop services will now close 60 minutes before scheduled departure.

Previously, passengers had up to 40 minutes before their flight left to check in, but that’s set to change as of November 10, 2026.

The new one-hour rule will apply across all airports that Ryanair serves, for every passenger.

Meanwhile, carriers around the world are cutting routes and introducing extra charges in an effort to manage soaring fuel prices driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been blocked by Iran since February, handles approximately 20% of the world’s oil supply.

With this route disrupted and supplies running low, jet fuel costs have subsequently skyrocketed from around $85 to $90 (£62.71 to £66.40) per barrel to $150 to $200 (£110.66 to £147.55).

On April 16, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, said Europe has ‘maybe six weeks or so [of] jet fuel left,’ warning passengers to expect cancellations into the summer months.

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