United Kingdom 
United States 
Italia 
Deutschland 
France 
International 
This week marks 30 years since easyJet first took to the skies with a domestic flight from Luton Airport to Glasgow. The airline has marked the occasion with a commemorative recreation of its inaugural flight, and outlets such as the BBC and The Times have published reflective writeups.
But what do the public think? Data from YouGov BrandIndex UK shows that the brand is flying higher than the competition. First and foremost, it enjoys high Awareness: the average airline has a score of 64.1 and the average budget airline, 65.5; easyJet’s score is 94.1.
Beyond simply recognition, easyJet enjoys stronger brand perceptions than the wider industry in some key areas. Its Index score (a measure of overall brand health) sits at 9.5 – outperforming its fellow budget airlines (-2.8) and airlines more generally (7.6).
So what’s underpinning this healthy brand perception? The easyJet experience largely makes customers happy: its Satisfaction score is at 25.3, while the average for budget airlines is 5.7, and the average for airlines in general is 7.3. Its Recommend score, which measures consumer advocacy, is also stronger. Its immediate competitors in the low-cost space score -2.1 and the airline industry score 7.1: easyJet’s measures are 12.8.
All of this may be contributing to a Consideration score of 40.7 that comfortably outperforms competitors. Analysis of this metric, which asks consumers which brands they’d consider the next time they are in the market to travel via air, shows that, while airlines in general score 14.6, and low-cost airlines 17.8, easyJet scores 40.7.
In PR conversations about the anniversary, easyJet has claimed that its starting fares have dropped by over half of what they were when they first started flying. Given the brand’s focus, it’s perhaps no great shock that its Value for Money score (26.2) is higher than airlines on average (4.2), but it also outperforms other budget airlines (6.3) several times over. In any case, easyJet has forged a strong reputation over the past 30 years, and it may be interesting to see how it builds on it at a time when consumers are tightening their belts.
This article originally appeared in City A.M.