Passengers want to travel but are wary of booking flights without knowing what happens if a COVID-19 lockdown is implemented at their destination, easyJet Holidays CEO says.
After easyJet said it expects to fly no more than 20% of pre-pandemic capacity in the three months through December, Routes looks at the LCC's most used departure airports and aircraft this week.
UK LCC easyJet has raised further liquidity by selling over 300 London Stansted (STN) slots to Irish rival Ryanair and refinancing another 10 Airbus A320s, after posting its first ever full-year loss—totaling over £1 billion ($1.3 billion).
UK LCC easyJet has raised a further $169.5 million liquidity from the sale-and-leaseback of 11 Airbus A320s and cut back its winter flying to just 20% of planned capacity.
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has become the first rail partner in easyJet’s connecting services network Worldwide, which allows the LCC’s passengers to connect to flights across its network as well as those of partner airlines.
UK LCC easyJet has raised $398.6 million from aircraft refinancing and secured union agreement to cut its Berlin-based fleet from 34 to 18 aircraft, with 418 job losses.
After a deal was agreed that could pave the way for Flybe to restart operations, Routes looks at what became of the carrier’s UK network since its failure.
British LCC easyJet said it would make its first ever full-year loss and warned it expected to fly only around a quarter of the capacity that had been planned pre-pandemic over the winter because of travel restrictions in place in its markets.
The LCC expects to fly just a quarter of its normal schedule over the coming months although looking ahead to next summer and two new seasonal bases will open in Spain and Portugal.
More travel restrictions to important leisure destinations have forced easyJet to cut capacity again. However, the UK government has heeded calls to adopt a regionalized approach to quarantines.
The COVID-19 crisis has heightened the need for more environmentally sustainable practices and the industry needs to “reinvent itself,” a senior easyJet figure has said.
UK LCC easyJet is to close three UK bases at London Southend, London Stansted and Newcastle after ending redundancy consultations with pilots’ union BALPA, triggering further potential redundancies at airports operator and ground handling provider Stobart Group.
UK LCC easyJet has raised £608 million ($796 million) from the sale and leaseback of 23 Airbus A320 family aircraft, increasing its fundraising total to over £2.4 billion since the COVID-19 crisis took hold.
EasyJet expects to fly around 40% of planned capacity in its fiscal fourth quarter (Q4), based on current travel restrictions—up from the 30% previously announced after better-than-expected summer bookings.
Pilots at easyJet have voted to express no confidence in the LCC’s chief operations officer Peter Bellew amid proposed pilot job losses, in a development that the pilots’ union said shows a “serious and widening rift” with the UK airline’s senior management.
LONDON—UK ULCC easyJet plans to make more than 700 pilots redundant and close three of its British bases as it downsizes in the face of the novel coronavirus crisis.
