LONDON – In a week of hell for European carrier easyJet, the airline continues to reduce its Summer 2022 flights as shortages continue to pinch.
According to a report from the BBC, the airline was wanting to operate around 97% of its pre-COVID network between next month and September, but this has now been scaled back to 90%.
Such a revelation comes following the decision from the airline to limit the number of flights it operates out of London Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport respectively.
It is understood that cancellations will extend to other airports where it operates services from.
Direct Figure Unknown…
easyJet couldn’t dictate the exact figure of flights that would be canceled over this period, but the airline said this was part of its exercise of building resilience on its network.
The airline has been plagued by staff shortages in ground handling and at airports as well as significant delays in the air traffic control network as well.
If the airline doesn’t know the direct figure as of yet, it remains clear that it is going to be a large number of flights that will be affected.
Other airlines like TUI have been suffering the same level of cancellations and have been continuing to cause havoc in the sector.
A Week from Hell…
easyJet has been at the center of focus when it comes to airport chaos, as events have been escalating at its operations in London Gatwick.
One element, which was extremely sad news, was that a disabled easyJet passenger died falling down an escalator at Gatwick.
It was understood that the incident occurred while staff were helping to disembark three passengers with restricted mobility, and stated that staff shortage didn’t play a factor in this.
However, with all of the news surfacing around staff shortages, this particular event didn’t help the cause of easyJet or London Gatwick.
It was also reported that only one person would look after the set manifest of disabled passengers at a time, taking them one by one, instead of having multiple staff members handling the passengers.
easyJet confirmed the death and said the following in a statement:
“A number of our cabin crew provided medical assistance to a passenger while waiting for paramedics to arrive. However, the passenger sadly later passed away. Our thoughts are with their family and friends”.
Take that as you will, but it has not been a great week for the airline.
Overall…
It remains clear that easyJet has had quite the week, and such chaos looks to last a lot longer, which is going to damage a good opportunity for the carrier to thrive well in the Summer 2022 season.
Recruitment is going to be a big driving factor for airlines like easyJet, as the expectation is to get to full capacity at some point. When that will be is yet another unknown.
All eyes are going to be on the rest of the sector to see what more can be done in order to alleviate the issues that are ultimately being sent down to the consumer.
