SKI resorts could replace summer sunspots in Southend Airport’s list of destinations next winter.

Budget airline easyJet, which is due to start flights to nine overseas cities in April, has revealed it is considering a new schedule for the colder months.

Traditional sunshine destinations such as Malaga, Alicante, Mallorca, Faro and Ibiza are already on easyJet’s list of routes until next September.

Andrew McConnell, corporate affairs manager, said: “All our tickets for all our announced routes are now on sale until September 2 next year. We have not made a decision on what our schedule will be after that, but we could well have some routes to areas which might be more popular in the winter.

“So we might swap some of the destinations for ski resorts, or something like that.”

The company announced it had signed a ten-year deal to operate flights from Southend Airport earlier this year.

As well as the sunspots, it will also have flights to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast and Jersey, offering more than 2,500 flights and 300,000 seats in total.

Although the list of destinations for Southend is limited by the length of the runway, routes to existing winter resorts, such as Grenoble in France and Geneva in Switzerland, could be within range of the type of planes which can use the airport.

The final schedule is expected to be announced early next year.

However, Mr McConnell said the airline had been encouraged by the early sales for the summer routes.

He added: “We’ve been really pleased with how Southend is performing.

“Customers really seem to have taken a liking to it.”