A top artist has produced comic book inspired face masks for all young easyJet flyers this summer.

Irish artist Will Sliney, best known for his work on Marvel comics Spider-Man and Star Wars, has teamed up with the airline, who fly from Southend, to design new  ‘lion’ and ‘pilot’ face masks.

Brentwood Live:

The covers will be made available for free to children flying with easyJet this Summer, with a limited edition run of the mask covers available on selected routes over the summer.

This comes after easyJet announced a small number of flights will restart from 15 June, with more to be restored by July.

Will Sliney said: “Flying with face masks is going to a new experience for everyone, especially young children so I hope these fun designs, inspired by comic book characters, help to encourage kids to wear their masks onboard.

“I have used a combination of a lion animal character and a futuristic pilot to create a set of mask covers to bring out the inner superhero in all young flyers.

“As a parent myself I know how tricky traveling can be, so I hope these fun face masks covers can help make things easier for parents too.”

Captain David Morgan, director of flight operations, said: We have teamed up with a comic illustrator to create some bespoke children face masks covers as we know the airport environment could feel different and possibly daunting for younger travellers when flying initially resumes.

"So we hope these face mask covers help children enjoy flying with us over the summer and this makes things a little easier for parents too.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew remains our highest priority which is why, as well as requiring customers and crew to wear masks, we are implementing a number of measures enhancing safety at each part of the journey from aircraft disinfection to initially serving no food onboard.

"These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic."

The airline has confirmed some flights will resume from June 15, from destinations across the UK, which include, London Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and Belfast.