EasyJet confirms closure of 3 UK bases, job losses
Updated : 15:43
Budget airline easyJet confirmed on Monday it would close three of its bases in the UK, blaming the coronavirus pandemic and associated government quarantine restrictions.
The company in May said it would have to slash 4,500 jobs across its European operations after grounding most of its fleet as passenger demand collapsed. It will now close bases at London Stansted, Southend and Newcastle airports to consolidate and reorganise itself in the context of a much reduced airline industry
Around 1,900 jobs are set to disappear in the UK, with today’s announcement taking in up to 670 of that total.
Rival airline Ryanair on Monday said that it would cut flight capacity by a further 20% during September and October as bookings in the last 10 days took a hit from reimposed travel restrictions by the UK government.
The industry suffered a fresh blow to its hopes of a late summer recovery last week after France, the Netherlands and Malta joined Spain on Britain's quarantine list.
"The pandemic and travel restrictions, compounded by quarantine measures in the UK, continue to impact demand for travel,” said easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren.
He added that the company and unions had been able to identify ways to "significantly reduce" the number of proposed compulsory redundancies.
Lundgren said this had been achieved through providing enhanced voluntary redundancy packages for all UK crew alongside additional options like part time and seasonal contracts, base transfers and unpaid leave "which we expect to result in reducing the number of job losses overall".
The company said it was still committed to working with the pilot union BALPA on the next phase which includes the voluntary redundancy and individual consultation process and had reached agreement with the Unite union on voluntary redundancy terms and selection criteria for cabin crew.
It added that through the consultation process with Unite, 93% of cabin crew who were at risk of redundancy had opted for an enhanced voluntary redundancy package.