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The low-cost carrier, easyJet, has announced it is grounding its entire fleet in a shock statement issued this morning.
The airline says, “As a result of the unprecedented travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of national lockdowns across many European countries, easyJet has, today, fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft.
“Over recent days easyJet has been helping to repatriate customers, having operated more than 650 rescue flights to date, returning home more than 45,000 customers. The last of these rescue flights were operated on Sunday 29 March. We will continue to work with government bodies to operate additional rescue flights as requested.
“At this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights. We will continuously evaluate the situation based on regulations and demand, and will update the market when we have a view.
“We continue to take every action to remove cost and non-critical expenditure from the business at every level in order to help mitigate the impact from the coronavirus. The grounding of aircraft removes significant cost.
“easyJet maintains a strong balance sheet, with no debt re-financings due until 2022. We are in ongoing discussions with liquidity providers who recognise our strength of balance sheet and business model.
“easyJet and Unite the union have collaboratively reached an agreement on furlough arrangements for its cabin crew. The agreement will be effective from 1 April 2020 for a period of two months and means that crew will be paid 80% of their average pay through the Government job retention scheme.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet CEO said: “I am extremely proud of the way in which people across easyJet have given their absolute best at such a challenging time, including so many crew who have volunteered to operate rescue flights to bring our customers home. We are working tirelessly to ensure that easyJet continues to be well-positioned to overcome the challenges of coronavirus.”
EasyJet PLC, styled as easyJet, is a British low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on over 1,000 routes in more than 30 countries via its affiliate airlines EasyJet UK, EasyJet Switzerland, and EasyJet Europe.
EasyJet plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. easyGroup Holdings Ltd (the investment vehicle of the airline’s founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family) is the largest shareholder with a 34.62% stake (as of July 2014). It employs nearly 15,000 people, based throughout Europe but mainly in the UK.
EasyJet has seen expansion since its establishment in 1995, having grown through a combination of acquisitions, and base openings fuelled by consumer demand for low-cost air travel. The group, along with associate companies easyJet UK, easyJet Europe and easyJet Switzerland, operate more than 300 aircraft. It has 29 bases across Europe, the largest being Gatwick. It is the second-largest budget airline in Europe by number of passengers carried, behind Ryanair.
EasyJet was featured in the television series Airline broadcast on ITV which followed the airline’s operations at London Luton and later at other bases.
