UK's EasyJet plans to lay-off 4,500 employees to stay competitive in smaller market

British budget airline group EasyJet plans to lay-off 4,500 employees and shrink its fleet to cut down the expenditure, aimed at adjusting to the smaller market post-pandemic. The airline industry has been severely hit due to the travel restrictions imposed by countries to contain the coronavirus, bringing the sector to its knees.

EasyJet employs more than 15,000 people across eight countries in Europe and around 8,000 of its staff are based in the UK. The company has already been struggling with a cyber attack in which email addresses and travel details of customers were accessed by the attacker and credit card details of 2,208 customers were exposed.

With airlines around the world grounded due to border control measures put in place to contain coronavirus, Boeing’s chief executive recently said, in April, that the air traffic may not bounce back for two or three years to the pre-pandemic levels. Speaking at an annual meeting, Boeing CEO David Calhoun presented a sober outlook of the aviation industry and predicted that it could take three to five years to restore the company’s dividend.

Calhoun said that it is difficult to estimate when the situation will stabilise due to the unpredictable and fast-changing environment owing to coronavirus crisis. He added that the commercial market will be smaller after the resumption of airline service and customers’ needs will be different.

Massive layoffs

Recently, Belgium's biggest carrier Brussels Airlines announced its plan to lay off 25 per cent of its workforce, slashing 1000 jobs to keep the company afloat. The Lufthansa-owned airlines highlighted the “extremely negative impact” of the pandemic on the company’s financials, adding that “substantial and indispensable” measures were needed for the survival of the company.

The airlines said that the company is “structurally” tackling its cost structure for the recovery plan and also optimising its network, resulting in a fleet reduction of 30 per cent i.e. from 54 to 38 aircraft. The company has also asked for support from the Belgian government as well as its majority shareholder Lufthansa to over the ongoing crisis.

Read: Boeing, Airbus To Study COVID-19 Behaviour To Minimise Risk During Air Travel

(Image: Twitter / @robwooduk)