The head of UK low-cost airline Easyjet has warned of an industry "shake-out" with routes likely to be axed and fares set to rise, as oil prices solidify well above $100 a barrel. Speaking as EasyJet launched its longest-ever scheduled route, a five-hour journey from London to the Jordanian capital of Amman, chief executive Carolyn McCall said it was inevitable that airlines, including her own, would examine route networks as profit margins narrow. "You will see us being much more brutal about what routes work and what routes don’t," she said, citing a recent decision by EasyJet to pull out of Helsinki. "We’re going to be very, very tough about routes that aren’t working."
Even so, McCall said easyJet intends to grow its position in London, Geneva and Paris. And she confirmed news from last month that the airline is plotting a full-scale assault on the corporate travel market by rolling out business-friendly flexible tickets and recruiting its first corporate sales team, selling tickets to multinational companies. About 18% of easyJet’s 50 million monthly passengers are business travellers at this time.
Following a five-month trial selling flexible fares through a corporate booking agent, easyJet intends to offer premium tickets on its website that allow business travellers to switch between flights within a four-week window, check in luggage for free and board aircraft early. The airline’s corporate sales team will number 15 people, based in the UK, France and Switzerland, with a mandate to negotiate with the travel departments of both FTSE 100 and smaller corporates. But McCall is reluctant to tweak the airline’s no-frills service to cater for businesspeople. She said allocated seating was "not a first level priority" and ruled out introducing business-class seats: "We don’t believe in that. It’s complicated and it’s not egalitarian. We’re a very egalitarian airline.