England rugby hero, Lawrence Dallaglio, and leukaemia patient Sian Willbourne, today launched easyJet's new Charity of the Year 2006. The ground-breaking partnership will save hundreds of lives throughout Europe.

The Anthony Nolan Trust was voted as 'easyJet Charity of the Year' after easyJet employees throughout Europe were inspired by the charity's life saving work.

The Anthony Nolan Trust takes back lives from leukaemia by providing bone marrow donors to adults and children in need of transplants. Each year, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of over 500 men, women and children who might have otherwise died.

Funds raised by easyJet, Europe's leading low-fares airline, will specifically be spent on recruiting 5,000 donors. Any one of these donors could save someone like Sian, 29 from St Albans, who was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia last year:

"My only hope of survival is to have a transplant. Although some people are lucky enough to find a donor in their family, this has not been so in my case. As a result, I am now one of 7,000 people worldwide currently seeking an unrelated donor", said Sian.

In order to save everyone that needs them, Anthony Nolan urgently needs to increase the number of people on its register. Throughout 2006, easyJet employees and customers will be encouraged to follow the example set by people, including Lawrence Dallaglio, and personally join Anthony Nolan's register.

"When the charity held a clinic at London Wasps I could not think of a good reason not to join their bone marrow register. The more people Anthony Nolan register, the more lives are saved", said Lawrence Dallaglio

As an independent charity Anthony Nolan continues to rely on the financial support of companies like easyJet to continue their lifesaving work.

easyJet today launched an on-line 'click and give' campaign on www.easyJet.com to raise much-needed funds. The low-fares airline will donate 25p for every click made through its website.

easyJet raised �300,000 for their Charity of the Year 2004/5, The National Society for Epilsepsy.

Andrew Harrison, easyJet Chief Executive:

"I am delighted that our staff selected such an inspirational cause to be our 'Charity of the Year 2006'. The money that easyJet employees and customers raise for Anthony Nolan will help save lives throughout Europe"

Photos from the event will be available later today.

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For more information on easyJet please call Sarah Pritchett, Press Officer on 01582 52 52 52

For more information on the Anthony Nolan Trust please call, Michelle Lane, Corporate Fundraising Manager, on 0207 284 8285

NOTES TO EDITORS

About easyJet

easyJet is Europe's leading low-fares airline, currently operating 110 aircraft on 245 routes between 68 airports, in 17 European countries. The airline carried over 30 million passengers during 2005.

easyJet flies to:

Aberdeen, Alicante, Almeria, Amsterdam, Asturias, Athens, Barcelona, Basel, Belfast, Berlin, Bilbao, Bournemouth, Bratislava, Bremen, Bristol, Budapest, Cagliari, Cologne, Copenhagen, Cork, Doncaster Sheffield, Dortmund, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Grenoble, Hamburg, Ibiza, Inverness, Knock, Krakow, Lisbon, Liverpool, Ljubljana, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted, Lyon, Maastricht, Madrid, Mahon, Malaga, Marseille, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Munich, Murcia, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Nottingham East Midlands, Olbia, Palermo, Palma, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Pisa, Prague, Riga, Rome, Shannon, Tallinn, Toulouse, Turin, Valencia, Venice, Warsaw. Book online at www.easyJet.com

About The Anthony Nolan Trust

1.The Anthony Nolan Trust takes back lives from leukaemia by providing life saving bone marrow donors to hundreds of children and adults waiting for transplants. The Anthony Nolan also undertakes vital research leading to improvements in the effectiveness and safety of bone marrow transplants.

Through partnering the bone marrow registers of other countries, Anthony Nolan's work benefits patients both in the UK and throughout the world.

2. Currently 7,000 patients in the UK and throughout the world are looking to find a suitable bone marrow donor. There are not enough bone marrow donors registered. The Anthony Nolan Trust urgently needs to do more to increase the chances of life for these patients. We can only do this with continued financial support.

3. The Anthony Nolan Trust is an independent charity. It continually relies on financial support from individuals and companies. In all, The Anthony Nolan needs over �14.5 million a year to continue its lifesaving work. That's why we're asking for more support from public donations and companies large and small.

4. More individuals aged 18-40 are needed to join The Anthony Nolan Trust's bone marrow register. The Anthony Nolan Trust specifically needs to recruit more young male donors and those of UK minority ethnic backgrounds.