Easyjet Plans To Cut Up To 4,500 Employees

EasyJet has publicized its plans to cut its 15,000-member staff, by up to 4,500, as part of measures to reduce cost, seeing that air travel demand has continued to slump.

In a publication released on Thursday, the airline made it clear that it will soon launch what it called “an employee consultation process” and spelled out the measures that will be applied in cutting down its capacity. The report also confirmed that domestic flights in the UK and France will resume on 15 June, though it does not expect to resume operations at full strength until 2023.

Even as many because more optimistic about seeing more relaxed lockdown protocols as we approach summer, United Kingdom’s biggest airline prepares to cut almost a third of its staff.

Speaking on the issue, EasyJet chief executive John Lundgren said:

“We realise 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”. He added that the airline was focusing on “what is right for the company and its long-term health and success”.

Following this step, the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has come out to publicly criticise EasyJet for not deliberating the measures with the union ahead of time, while also calling the move as “ill-considered”.

“EasyJet staff will be shocked at the scale of this announcement and 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,” BALPA General Secretary, Brian Strutton, said in a statement.