easyJet

Orange on the tail, Airbus under the paint – easyJet is one of the airlines you see at almost every major airport in Europe. That is exactly why a closer look is worth it: behind the uniform look there are three companies from three countries, four types of the A320 family and registrations with G-, OE- or HB-. This page shows you how to assign every easyJet cleanly and what matters at the spot.

easyJet at a glance

easyJet is a British low-cost airline headquartered in Hangar 89 at London Luton Airport. It was founded by the entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995. The beginning was modest: with about 70 employees and two leased Boeing 737-200s, easyJet flew from Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh. The first aircraft of its own arrived in 1996 – and with it the first international route, to Amsterdam.

Today easyJet is one of the largest airlines in Europe. By its own account, the fleet comprised exactly 355 aircraft on March 31, 2025, connecting around 160 airports in 38 countries on more than 1,200 routes. In the 2025 financial year, according to published figures, more than 93 million passengers flew with easyJet.

Unlike British Airways, easyJet operates without a hub for connecting passengers and does not belong to any alliance. The largest base is London Gatwick, joined by Luton and other bases in the United Kingdom and on the Continent – around 30 in total, for example in Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Geneva and Berlin. At these bases, aircraft and crews are stationed overnight, and in the morning they depart on direct flights in every direction.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code U2: appears in the flight number, so on the departures board, on the ticket and in most schedules. Many easyJet Europe flights also operate with U2 numbers.
• ICAO code EZY: appears in the flight plan filed with air traffic control and therefore on flight trackers when easyJet UK is flying.
• Callsign EASY: this is how the British crew checks in on the radio. If you listen in at the spot, you can tell the companies apart by the callsign alone. What the law says about that is explained in the article Listening to airband radio – the legal situation.

Neither U2 nor EZY sounds like Great Britain – that is normal. IATA and ICAO codes are pure airline identifiers, not country codes. You can read how the system works in the article IATA and ICAO codes explained, and why flight number and callsign are two different things in Callsign and flight number – the difference.

One brand, three airlines

To passengers, easyJet is simply easyJet. For you as a spotter, the structure behind it is the most interesting part: under the roof of easyJet plc, three companies fly with their own certificates.

Company	Headquarters	IATA	ICAO	Callsign	Registration
easyJet UK	Luton, United Kingdom	U2	EZY	EASY	G-
easyJet Europe	Vienna, Austria	EC (sold as U2)	EJU	ALPINE	OE-
easyJet Switzerland	Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland	DS	EZS	TOPSWISS	HB-

easyJet Europe came into being as a response to Brexit. For the airline to keep flying freely within the EU after the United Kingdom’s exit, it needed a company with an EU license. Since 2017, easyJet Europe has operated with an Austrian air operator certificate, which is why many aircraft at the continental bases carry OE- registrations. The Swiss company is older and has its own history – you will find everything about it on the page for easyJet Switzerland.

How registrations are built and which prefixes belong to which country is explained in the articles Understanding aircraft registrations and Country codes on aircraft.

The fleet: only the Airbus A320 family

If you are looking for type variety at easyJet, you will find it within one family. All aircraft come from Airbus, and four types are in service:

Type	Seats	Role in the fleet	Spotter note
Airbus A319	156	Oldest aircraft, being retired gradually	Shortest fuselage, looks stubby
Airbus A320 (A320ceo)	180 or 186	Largest group in the fleet	Some with sharklets, some with small wingtip fences
Airbus A320neo	186	Growing share	Very large engines, always sharklets
Airbus A321neo	235	Largest type, in service since 2018	Much longer fuselage, large engines

The first-generation Airbus A320 is still the backbone. For years, it has mainly been the A320neo and the A321neo joining – easyJet took delivery of its first A321neo in July 2018. At the end of 2023, the airline ordered another 157 aircraft of the neo family, a large share of them A321neos. Newly delivered aircraft have also had Airbus’s more modern Airspace cabin on board since 2026.

The A319, on the other hand, is a phase-out model. easyJet ordered it in large numbers from 2002 on and thereby completed the switch from Boeing to Airbus. Now the A319s are being retired one after another. If you are still missing some in your logbook, better not wait too long.

A319, A320, A320neo or A321neo? How to tell them apart

All four types wear the same livery and look very similar at first glance. Two questions help you sort them: how long is the fuselage – and how big are the engines?

For length, look at the ratio of fuselage to wing: the A319 looks short and stubby, with noticeably fewer windows ahead of and behind the wing than the A320. The overwing exits do not help much at easyJet, though, because with the dense seating even the A319s have two exits per side. The A321neo stands out for its strikingly long fuselage, especially next to an A319. And importantly, sharklets alone are not a reliable neo feature, because some A320ceos were delivered with them. Rely on the engines. You will find more tips in Identifying aircraft types for beginners and Telling Airbus and Boeing apart.

How to recognize easyJet

Orange is easyJet’s signature: white fuselage, orange “easyJet” lettering and an orange tail. The color is so closely tied to the brand that it even triggered a dispute with a mobile phone company that also relied on orange. In the early years, the booking phone number was displayed in large type on the fuselage, later the web address – today the livery is much calmer.

Because almost all aircraft look alike, the deviations are the most sought-after designs. Several A320neos and one A321neo carry large “NEO” lettering, and there are advertising liveries, for example for easyJet holidays or partners, and special liveries for occasions such as the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Which aircraft wears which design at any given time changes – how to hunt for them is shown in the article Finding special liveries.

Spotting easyJet in Germany

Berlin as the only German base

easyJet came to Germany in 2004 – with routes from Berlin-Schönefeld, Cologne/Bonn and Dortmund. Schönefeld became the first German base, and the airline gave up Dortmund again in 2008. In 2017, easyJet took over parts of the insolvent Air Berlin at Tegel, including leased A320s and takeoff and landing slots. Since November 2020, the Berlin base has operated from the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

At BER, easyJet is one of the airlines you are guaranteed to see. In the morning the based aircraft depart in quick succession, and in the evening they come back. You get an official view of the apron from the observation deck at Berlin Airport. Check the current opening hours beforehand.

Other German airports

At other German airports such as Hamburg, you see easyJet mainly on connections from bases abroad, for example in the United Kingdom or Switzerland. Which routes are currently served changes from season to season – a look at the current schedule is worthwhile. Here the registration matters especially, because all three companies can show up. In Hamburg, the observation deck is a good option.

easyJet abroad

It gets really dense at the big easyJet bases. In Geneva, the Swiss company dominates, and from the observation deck at Geneva Airport you often see several orange aircraft at once. In Amsterdam, the spotter spot at the Polderbaan is a good choice, and in Manchester the Runway Visitor Park. On vacation you meet easyJet at destinations such as Palma de Mallorca or Lanzarote, where Playa Honda lies right under the approach.

For good pictures, the light matters as much as the schedule. How to plan the sun position at your spot is shown in Planning the sun position at your photo spot, and how to estimate the runway direction in advance is explained in Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport. New to this? Then Plane spotting for beginners will help you get started.

easyJet compared

In the European low-cost market, easyJet has a profile of its own. Ryanair flies almost only Boeing 737s and relies heavily on smaller, cheaper airports. easyJet, by contrast, flies only Airbus and is often present at large main airports such as Gatwick, Paris or Amsterdam. Wizz Air also relies on the A320 family, recognizable by pink and violet instead of orange.

Vueling and Transavia also often turn up at the same airports. Vueling flies Airbus in yellow and gray, Transavia mainly Boeing 737s and increasingly A321neos in green and blue. In Germany, Eurowings is one of the most important competitors on short and medium-haul routes, and in the United Kingdom, alongside British Airways, mainly Jet2 in leisure traffic.

Common mix-ups

• Taking every orange A320 for easyJet UK – easyJet Europe and easyJet Switzerland wear the same livery. The registration decides.
• Taking U2 for a country code – U2 is purely an airline identifier.
• Taking sharklets as a reliable neo feature – many A320ceos have sharklets too. The engines are more reliable.
• Telling the A319 and A320 apart by the emergency exits – because of the dense seating, easyJet’s A319s also have two exits over the wing per side. Look at the fuselage length or check the type on the tracker.
• Taking easyJet for a Boeing airline – the 737 flew only in the early years; today everything is Airbus.
• Equating the U2 flight number with the operating company – the ICAO code on the tracker shows who is really flying.

Conclusion

easyJet is the orange constant at Europe’s airports – and more than a single airline. Behind the brand there are three companies from the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland, four types of the A320 family and a fleet in transition from the A319 to the A321neo. If you note down the registration and ICAO code and pay attention to engines and fuselage length, you turn every routine sighting into a clean logbook entry.