EasyJet has said it will lay off up to 30% of its employees, roughly about 4,500 jobs as it deals with the impact of COV ID 19 on passenger numbers.
The airline did not say exactly how many jobs would go, but it employed 15,000 people at the start of 2020.
"To effect the restructure of our business, EasyJet will shortly launch an employee consultation process on proposals to reduce staff numbers by up to 30%, reflecting the reduced fleet, the optimisation of our network and bases, improved productivity as well as the promotion of more efficient ways of working," the firm said.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: "We realise that 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 said the airline was planning to reduce the size of its fleet and would continue to cut costs. "We want to ensure that we emerge from the pandemic an even more competitive business than before, so that easyJet can thrive in the future."
The LCC also said that a small number of mainly domestic flights, from 21 European airports would restart from 15 June
This includes many UK domestic routes, including from London Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Belfast, and Isle of Man.
A new range of additional measures will be in place to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of all customers and crew onboard. These include enhanced aircraft disinfection for EasyJet aircraft; customers, cabin and ground crew will be required to wear masks; there will also initially be no food service onboard flights, all of which operate on a short-haul network.
The measures have been implemented in consultation with aviation authorities ICAO and EASA, and in line with relevant national authorities and medical advice through the airline’s chief medical adviser.
“I am really pleased that we will be returning to some flying in the middle of June. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to resume operations. We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that when more restrictions are lifted the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want to fly,” said Lundgren.
