EasyJet re-creates first Luton-Glasgow flight on 30th anniversary

Budget airline EasyJet has celebrated its 30th anniversary by re-creating its inaugural flight.

On 10 November 1995, Capt Fred Rivett, now 88, was in the pilot’s seat for the airline’s first flight, which carried 122 passengers from Luton to Glasgow.

Three decades later, the retired pilot returned to watch the commemorative take-off, which departed at 09:00 GMT – the exact time of the original flight.

The celebration brought together generations of staff who shared their experience of working for the company.

In 1995, Capt Rivett, who had been flying since he was 16, was waiting to take off, but founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou was chatting to the airline’s first passengers.

“I thought, ‘I wish they’d hurry up. We’re going to miss our slot’,” he recalled to presenter Justin Dealey.

Capt Rivett remembers that the entrepreneur was “yak, yak, yakking” and time was running out.

Eventually, the frustrated pilot decided to make his first announcement to the passengers: “Sit down. Behave yourselves. We’re going. Now.”

Later, he told Sir Stelios: “You talk to the passengers and I’ll fly the aeroplane.”

Easyjet has grown over the decades, and took on a starring role in the 1998 reality show Airline.

Capt Rivett admitted he had not foreseen the success of the brand.

“You couldn’t really tell at that time,” he said.

“It was an interesting concept, though, I thought.

“We were using two aeroplanes that were ex-Britannia aeroplanes. They’re pretty old aeroplanes but in actual fact they did very well.”

On landing in Glasgow, the inaugural flight was welcomed with a chorus of bagpipes.

Capt Jamie Smart, who is also turning 30 this month, was the pilot for the 30th anniversary flight to Glasgow.

As an eight-year-old he was dazzled by a display from the Red Arrows and decided then that he wanted to be a pilot:

“I was a boy with a dream at eight that just followed it,” he said.

As Capt Smart and his crew (all of whom were also 30) prepared for the flight, birthday balloons decorated the airport.

I’ve been a captain for a little under two years. I’m super-excited to operate this with the crew,” he said.

“My parents and mentors and everyone supported me, and now here I am, at the age of 30, captaining the flight, which is an incredible privilege.”

Seamstress Maria, who runs Maria’s Cut & Sew in Luton, played a crucial role in shaping the airline’s early look.

Her shop, tucked away near Wigmore and adorned with framed photos of Princess Diana, might seem an unlikely place to find a piece of EasyJet history.

In 1985, the airline gave her two weeks to measure, alter and return the finished orange uniforms while the first crew completed training.

Once the first batch was complete, she was given another two weeks to prepare uniforms for the next wave of staff

She recalled making them “look smart”, noting they “looked awful” before she fixed the standard medium and large size uniforms the airline provided

As the business expanded, the airline came to her less but she said she was proud to have played a role in those early days.

“I feel part of the beginning. It was nice. It makes me feel good.”

Father and daughter Neil Sauble and Holly Brown are both current EasyJet employees.

Dad was convinced to join the airline when he wanted a change in career following three decades working in sales.

His daughter had already been working there as a cabin manager, having joined about 13 years earlier.

Neil, who has been employed for about seven years, acknowledged that Holly was the boss both at home and on board the aircraft.

“I knew how much she enjoyed it, so she suggested that I give it a go. And here I am,” he said.

Holly added: “It’s easy. We just get on. We get on really well,” she added.