Original pilot returns to Luton Airport to celebrate 30 years since first easyJet flight
The first pilot to fly an easyJet plane from Luton Airport has celebrated with the airline to mark 30 years of travel in the skies.
Retired captain Fred Rivett flew the airline’s inaugural flight from Luton to Glasgow on November 10, 1995, with 122 passengers. He joined the easyJet team at the terminal this week for a special flight operated entirely by pilots and cabin crew who are also turning 30 this November.
He said: “It’s hard to believe it’s been three decades since my crew and I flew that very first flight from Luton to Glasgow. Back then, easyJet was a bold new idea and a complete disruptor to the industry, and to see how it has grown into the UK’s largest airline and helped millions travel across Europe and beyond is something I’m incredibly proud to have been part of.”
Pilot captain Jamie Smart, who flew the plane for the celebration, said: “What an absolute privilege to have been on board flying easyJet’s 30th anniversary flight, almost 30 years to the day since I was born. The excitement I feel flying with easyJet has not changed over the last nine years I have been with the airline, and I know it will still remain in another 30 years!”