EasyJet announces thousands of job losses and 30% reduction in staff
28 May 2020, 07:32
EasyJet has announced plans to slash thousands of staff as the airline starts to "restructure" their business due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Luton-based carrier said it intends to reduce its workforce by up to 30% as it reduces the size of its fleet due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: "We realise that these are very difficult times and we are having to consider very difficult decisions which will impact our people, but we want to protect as many jobs as we can for the long-term.
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"We remain focused on doing what is right for the company and its long-term health and success, following the swift action we have taken over the last three months to meet the challenges of the virus.
"Although we will restart flying on June 15, we expect demand to build slowly, only returning to 2019 levels in about three years' time.
"Against this backdrop, we are planning to reduce the size of our fleet and to optimise the network and our bases.
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"As a result, we anticipate reducing staff numbers by up to 30% across the business and we will continue to remove cost and non-critical expenditure at every level. We will be launching an employee consultation over the coming days.
"We want to ensure that we emerge from the pandemic an even more competitive business than before, so that easyJet can thrive in the future."
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Brian Strutton, general secretary of the pilots' union Balpa said: "EasyJet staff will be shocked at the scale of this announcement. Only two days ago staff got a 'good news' message from their boss with no mention of job losses so this is a real kick in the teeth.
"Those staff have taken pay cuts to keep the airline afloat and this is the treatment they get in return.
"EasyJet has not discussed its plans with Balpa so we will wait and see what impact there will be in the UK.
"But given EasyJet is a British company, the UK is it's strongest market and it has had hundreds of millions in support from the UK taxpayer I can safely say that we will need a lot of convincing that EasyJet needs to make such dramatic cuts.
"Indeed, EasyJet'sown projections, though on the pessimistic side, point to recovery by 2023 so this is a temporary problem that doesn't need this ill-considered knee-jerk reaction."
