EasyJet (ESYJY)said in a statement Monday that operations based at London Stansted, London Southend and Newcastle will be scrapped on 31 August. Stansted and Newcastle will remain part of their route network, served by incoming planes from other bases, it added. All flights to and from Southend will be stopped.
The airline will continue to operate on eight UK bases, including London’s Gatwick and Luton, which serve nearly 500 routes.
The “very difficult decision” to no longer base crews and pilots on the three airports was caused by the pandemic and related travel restrictions, “compounded by quarantine measures in the UK that affect the demand for travel,” he said. CEO Johan Lundgren in a statement.
The closures of the base could result in the loss of up to 670 jobs. EasyJet said in May that it would have to cut 4,500 positions, with some reduction achieved through measures such as voluntary redundancy packages, part-time contracts, basic transport and unpaid leave.
Traveling in and around Europe has come to a virtual standstill, despite it being the hottest summer tourist season. TUI (TUIFF), the world’s largest tour operator, said last week that it sold just 16% of its original summer 2020 program. Flights to and within the most visited region in the world have also crashed, according to the European Travel Commission.
“Direct bookings have weakened markedly over the last 10 days, given the continuing uncertainty over recent Covid case rates in some EU countries,” Ryanair (RYAAY) said in a statement on Monday.
As a result, Europe’s largest airline by passengers said it would reduce flight numbers by 20% in September and October.
The cuts will be “heavily targeted” at countries such as Spain, France, Sweden and Ireland, which are now subject to fresh travel restrictions, it added.
The UK government on Saturday added France to a list of countries whose arrivals to Britain 14 days must be quarantined after a spike in cases of coronavirus in the country. France is the second most popular destination for Britons after Spain, which is already on the quarantine list.
“Proper testing at airports, and effective tracing (as carried out in Germany and Italy) is the only realistic and proportionate method of monitoring safe intra-EU air travel, while effectively limiting the spread of the Covid-19 virus,” a spokesman said. of Ryanair said.
– Eoin McSweeney and Vasco Cotovio contributed reporting.
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