Category Archives: easyJet

Tour groups and airlines shed more than £2bn after Portugal downgrade

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EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren accuses government of tearing up ‘its own rulebook’ as tourism industry feels pain

Tour operators and airlines lost more than £2bn in value after the government removed Portugal from the “green list” of countries exempt from significant travel restrictions, prompting dismay and anger within the hard-hit tourism industry.

Less than a month after Portugal became the first big destination to be granted green list status, prompting a much-needed boom in holiday sales, the government reversed the decision.

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Holiday bookings surge as Covid vaccinations increase travel hopes

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People high on list for jabs in UK ready to make 2021 and 2022 bookings

Holiday companies have reported an increase in bookings as the UK’s coronavirus vaccine rollout gives people hope that they will soon be able to travel overseas again.

Despite a series of negative travel announcements in recent days, including the closure of air corridors and words of caution from ministers over foreign holidays, there are signs that those among the first in line for the vaccinations are starting to plan trips, and that consumers are hopeful about taking a break later this year.

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EasyJet slumps to £1.3bn loss as Covid forces it to cut flights

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Airline to run 20% of flights for rest of 2020 but says vaccine news has boosted bookings

EasyJet has slumped to a £1.3bn full-year loss, the first in its 25-year history, but said bookings had been boosted by positive news on Covid-19 vaccines.

Johan Lundgren, the chief executive, said bookings had surged by 50% last week after the US drugmaker Pfizer and the German biotech firm BioNTech announced that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective. “Momentum has continued this week, as people have more confidence making travel plans going forward,” he said.

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Even with hope of a vaccine in the air, life isn’t simple for easyJet

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The worst parts of this week’s annual results have already been trailed – but what a terrible year it’s been

No flights, no planes, no crew, no fares – November! Late autumn is, even on easyJet’s standard aviation calendar, quite the worst time of any year, but 2020 has been something else.

On Tuesday, the airline unveils its annual results from what it can only hope are the depths of the Covid-19 abyss. A trading update last month warned on much of the misery – losses of up to £845m, not counting “non-headline items” such as a £145m bad bet on fuel hedging, and the immediate £120m cost of laying off about a third of its staff. The cash burn of around £50m a week over summer “compared favourably” with the previous three months, it said.

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EasyJet expands flight schedule as holiday demand grows

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Popular destinations include Nice and Faro despite coronavirus travel concerns

EasyJet has expanded its summer schedule after better-than-expected demand and says it expects to operate about 1,000 flights a day in August.

The budget carrier said popular destinations included Faro and Nice, along with city breaks such as Amsterdam and Paris. EasyJet will have 210 planes flying this month and expects to operate 40% of its capacity between July and September, higher than the 30% predicted at its first-half results.

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UK could impose more ‘handbrake restrictions’ on arrivals beyond Spain

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Quarantine measures for people travelling from Spain may be applied to other countries

Holidaymakers have been warned the government could impose “handbrake restrictions” on more countries beyond Spain in order to stop the spread of coronavirus – with travellers unlikely to be given much warning if further quarantine measures need to be enforced.

The restrictions on travellers returning from Spain after the measures were announced overnight threw summer holiday plans into disarray for British tourists, and will raise fears among those travelling to other European countries that they could face a similar turnaround at a moment’s notice.

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BA, easyJet and Ryanair begin court action over UK quarantine rules

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Airlines seeking urgent judicial review of policy that they say could cost thousands of jobs

Britain’s three biggest airlines have filed papers in the high court to seek an urgent judicial review of the government’s quarantine laws, which they say are having a devastating effect on tourism and the wider economy.

British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair say the rules, which came into effect on Monday and require passengers arriving from abroad to self-isolate at a single address for 14 days, are flawed and will cost thousands of jobs.

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EasyJet to resume domestic flights across UK and France

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Passengers and crew must wear masks but middle seats will not be blocked

EasyJet is to resume a small number of flights on 15 June, with increased safety measures on board including mandatory wearing of face masks, as it returns to the skies after grounding its entire fleet on 30 March.

The airline initially will restart domestic routes in the UK and France where it says there is sufficient customer demand to support profitable flying. Further routes will be added in the following weeks, as and when passenger demand rises and lockdown measures ease further across Europe.

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EasyJet reveals cyber-attack exposed 9m customers’ details

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Airline apologises after credit card details of about 2,200 passengers were stolen

EasyJet has revealed that the personal information of 9 million customers was accessed in a “highly sophisticated” cyber-attack on the airline.

The company said on Tuesday that email addresses and travel details were accessed and it would contact the customers affected.

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Stelios creates an atmosphere over easyJet’s new planes

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The airline’s combative founder has forced a meeting this week in which he will try to dismiss four directors

Video conferencing may have shown it can replace plenty of physical business gatherings over the past couple of months, but there are some occasions when it just doesn’t cut it.

Take this week’s easyJet general meeting, part of the latest in the series of sensational scraps between its founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, and the budget airline’s board. It is hard to see how something will not be lost with everyone out of lapel-grabbing reach.

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EasyJet founder offers £5m reward as he seeks to derail Airbus order

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Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou seeks ‘whistleblower’ to help scupper airline’s £4.5bn, 107-plane deal

EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is offering £5m to any “whistleblower” providing him with information that scuppers the budget airline’s 107-plane order from Airbus.

Haji-Ioannou, who has been attempting to force easyJet’s board to cancel the order for months, says the £4.5bn deal will leave the carrier without enough cash to survive the coronavirus crisis.

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EasyJet agrees delay with Airbus on delivery of 24 new aircraft

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Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s biggest shareholder, has repeatedly tried to get order cancelled

EasyJet has agreed with Airbus to delay the delivery of 24 new aircraft as the budget airline tries to stave off a shareholder rebellion led by its founder and former chief executive, Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s biggest shareholder, has repeatedly called for easyJet to cancel its orders for new planes, with coronavirus lockdowns likely wiping out months of revenues.

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‘Time is running out’: airline industry warns government

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EasyJet and Ryanair to stop flying on Monday and less than 5% of passengers expected at airports amid coronavirus

Airlines and airports have warned that time is running out for the government to enact promised measures to help the aviation industry, with EasyJet and Ryanair set to stop flying after Monday and less than 5% of normal passenger numbers expected at major airports.

Further talks are expected between ministers and the industry on Monday as the government wrestles with how to keep critical infrastructure functioning.

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