Tony Blair drops Easyjet

For the Blairs, only Ryanair will do

In a blow to its ambitions of dominating Europe's skies, budget airline Easyjet has learned it will not be taking the Blairs on their summer holidays.

Cost of a holiday

Reported cost of Blair's trip to Tuscany last year £40,000

Easyjet one-way fare to Nice next Monday £42

Ryanair one-way trip to Perpignan next Monday £139.99

In late July, Downing Street announced that Tony Blair and his family were planning to use Easyjet to travel to the south-west of France - the first time the prime minister had travelled on a low-cost airline.

But it has now emerged that the prime minister will be travelling with Ryanair, the Irish airline which is Easyjet's main competitor in the cut-price market.

Easyjet had incorporated the Blairite seal of approval into its summer advertising campaign, adding the slogan "Even Tony Blair got a bargain this summer" to its distinctive orange posters.

Easyjet 'disappointed'

An Easyjet spokeswoman was unable to confirm that the airline had been dropped by Number 10, pointing out that Mr Blair's ticket purchase would have been anonymous in any case.

Easyjet garnered free publicity for weeks

But she said that the airline would be "disappointed" to lose his business.

"We were delighted at the publicity" when Mr Blair first decided to fly Easyjet, she said.

She speculated that multiple bookings may have been made for security reasons.

As for the losses incurred on the now-obsolete summer advertisements, the spokeswoman said the campaign was only ever intended to be short-term in any case.

Budget Blairs

Downing Street has not said why the Blairs have changed their minds about Easyjet.

Their decision to fly with a budget airline in the first place was justified because "it was convenient".

But Downing Street acknowledged that there had been criticism of the prime minister's decision to use the Royal Air Force to take his family on previous holidays.

Last year it was reported that he spent £40,000 of public money on his holiday.

In contrast if the prime minister was to buy a one-way ticket to Nice on Easyjet for next Monday it would cost him only £42.

If he was to fly Ryanair to Perpignan, he could buy a one-way ticket from £139.99.