British low cost airline easyJet recently said that it is considering closing down three of its airport bases because of the impact on the travel industry due to the coronavirus.
The budget carrier said in a statement that it could close bases at London Stansted, London Southend and Newcastle airports as part of wider cost cutting measures announced in May because of coronavirus.
However, it said that these airports would remain part of its route network meaning flights would still land there but it would not retain offices and staff.
“Unfortunately the lower demand environment means we need fewer aircraft and have less opportunity for work for our people,” said easyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren.
Meanwhile, British Airline Pilots’ Association or BALPA said in an official statement that about 727 of the company’s UK-based pilots are at risk of redundancy, equivalent to about one-third of its pilots in the country. BALPA further said, adding that it was shocked by the scale of the job cuts. The union even called the company’s measures an “excessive overreaction.”
Brian Strutton, Balpa General Secretary, said: “easyJet paid £174m out to shareholders, got agreements to furlough staff to protect cash, got £600m from the Government, has boasted of having £2.4bn in liquidity, and ticket sales are going through the roof so fast they cannot get pilots back off furlough quickly enough – so why the panic?”
Earlier in May, easyJet had said that it needed to cut 4,500 jobs to stay competitive after the coronavirus pandemic caused a travel market slump.
The airline industry has been on its knees since the outbreak of coronavirus with many even looking at bankruptcy as unavoidable. Most of the airlines have been forced to cut jobs, including more than 15,000 in Britain, as they prepare for a market that is not forecast to return to 2019 levels until 2023.
easyJet employs about 15,000 people in eight European countries.
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