EasyJet made its second foray outside the EU yesterday, with its inaugural Morocco service. This follows the June launch of the carrier's first non-EU flight, to Croatia, and now the third route, to Istanbul, has got the green light.

The Gatwick-Marrakech service, which is on sale from £61 return including taxes, will put significant pressure on the carriers that have until now enjoyed a monopoly on UK-Morocco services – British Airways, Royal Air Maroc and the latter’s low cost subsidiary, Atlas Blue.

The arrival of easyJet on the route follows a decision by EU and Moroccan authorities to relax airspace regulations and allow any EU registered airline to operate between the EU and Morocco. Another airline taking advantage of the new agreement is Ryanair, which announced in May that it intends to launch a base at Marrakech, operating flights to 20 European destinations including Marseille and Frankfurt (although UK services are yet to be confirmed, Ryanair and easyJet rarely compete head-to-head on routes).

EasyJet says it expects to carry around 90,000 passengers on its Marrakech flights in the first 12 months of operation, but is less sanguine over its third sortie outside the EU – to Turkey (the first non-EU easyJet route to launch was Gatwick to Rijeka in Croatia, on June 30).

The carrier announced in March that it plans to launch flights between Luton and Istanbul, but had to suspend the service, despite selling tickets, because of delays in receiving regulatory approval from Turkish authorities. The service has today been given the goahead, and the carrier will shortly announce the new start date.

Customers who had already booked tickets to fly with easyJet to Istanbul and whose flights were cancelled have been offered refunds or alternative departure dates, and some, who have entered a discussion forum on the Cheapflights.co.uk news blog, have rebooked tickets with British Airways and Turkish Airlines. The forum also carries information on the best easyJet customer service phone numbers following complaints from travellers that they were having trouble reaching the airline.

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