Easyjet reduces its flight capacity, Ryanair wants to recover injured travelers

Europe 1 with AFP 4:41 p.m., June 20, 2022, modified at 4:41 p.m., June 20, 2022

The British low-cost carrier Easyjet announced on Monday a reduction in its transport capacity this summer due to an acute shortage of staff, in order to avoid chaos at airports like in recent weeks, while Ryanair on the contrary , tries to recover the injured travelers.

“There will be a cost of the impact” of these measures, warns Easyjet without further details, even if it affirms that the medium-term outlook remains “attractive”, according to a press release.

The group also points out that bookings remain "strong", with those for the fourth quarter similar to their pre-pandemic level for the 2019 financial year.

The British carrier is now expecting for its staggered third quarter, which ends on June 30, on a transport capacity of 87% of the levels of the 2019 financial year, against 90% planned until then.

This represents 140,000 flights for 22 million passengers, and 550% of capacity for the same period in the 2021 financial year, when the restrictions linked to the pandemic still paralyzed most traffic.

In the fourth quarter, which ends on September 30, transport capacity is expected to be around 90% of the level of the financial year 2019, against 97% previously.

"Aviation in Europe is facing operational difficulties"

Given the “unprecedented” acceleration of traffic in the first half of 2022 thanks to the lifting of health restrictions, “aviation in Europe is facing operational difficulties” mainly due to severe staff shortages, which lead to delays and cancellations In series, justifies Easyjet.

“A very tight labor market for the entire sector, including cabin crew, and increasing times to verify the identities” of candidates for aviation jobs are hampering efforts to speed up the offer, she adds.

"This is reflected in recently announced flight limits at two of our largest airports, Gatwick in London, and Amsterdam," Easyjet said.

Gatwick notably announced on Friday that it was limiting the number of daily flights in July and August to avoid a repeat of the chaos at airports in recent weeks.

On Monday, another London airport, Heathrow, asked airlines operating from its terminals 2 and 3 to reduce their flight schedules by 10% on Monday, with just under 30 flights and 5,000 passengers. affected, according to a spokeswoman.

At this stage, however, it is a request and not an obligation, specifies the airport, which apologized flatly for enormous problems in delivering luggage to travelers this weekend, which, for lack of ground staff, sometimes had to wait several hours to collect their luggage.

More than 15,000 flights per week for Ryanair

Easyjet believes it will be able to fly most affected travelers on alternative flights, "many on the same day as originally booked", and promises to notify customers in advance.

Low-cost rival Ryanair, which is trying to recover travelers who have been victims of flight cancellations, said it had set up 200 additional flights on Monday from 19 British airports to Europe.

"While British Airways, Easyjet and TUI cancel thousands of flights disrupting the holiday plans of British families, Ryanair is operating more than 15,000 flights a week and adding more than 1,000 for July and August," the British airline added. According to a press release.

The action of Easyjet fell 2.84% to 424.60 pence around 1:30 p.m. GMT on the London Stock Exchange and that of Ryanair took 0.76% to 11.88 euros in Dublin.

Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates notes that "these plans will lengthen the (post-pandemic) recovery for Easyjet", with "huge" costs of ramping up supply.

However, she notes that "the trend is positive and that the demand for travel is there".