EasyJet has gotten rid of some of its seats on planes to reduce the number of cabin crew needed. The airline is just one of many that has had problems with low numbers of staff following the increase in demand as Covid travel restrictions in the UK have been scrapped.
The news was shared with workers via an internal memo, which told staff that Easyjet would look to remove six seats from approximately 60 Airbus 319 jets, which are UK-based, reported The Telegraph.
The reduction in seats will see cabin crew numbers go down from four to three, by reducing seats from 156 to 150. Safety laws in the UK and EU say airlines must have one member of cabin crew for every 50 seats. It does not account for how many passengers are actually on board, meaning easyJet will still be in compliance with the rules.
There were thousands of cancellations over the Easter holidays, which tested both airlines and airports, after covid resulted in what bosses named the "worst-ever crisis." When the pandemic hit, airlines let go staff in tens of thousands in a desperate attempt to save cash.
But, when demand returned - and surged - they then found themselves short of workers, and also, workers would be unable to travel if they tested positive for Covid.
The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, hit out at the aviation industry for not being prepared for Easter, resulting in the blunder. But industry bosses blamed a bottleneck in a security vetting process that was overseen by the Government.
Airlines had also struggled to get cabin crew workers that had lost their jobs to return, with British Airways even offering a £1,000 "welcome bonus" to bring in the crew against rivals due to competition among airlines.
But EasyJet said that Covid-related sicknesses were the main reason for cancellations, due to lack of staff. They said that the absence rate had hit more than double the normal rate last month.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren has not blamed the Government for staff shortages - but it is rumoured that the airline is currently waited for 145 fully-trained employees to receive clearance.
Sources within the industry said that the removal of the seats would cut the recruitment gap by 300 employees. Mr Lundgren said that easyJet hopes to fly the same number of people as it did in 2019, and the seats removal would not be likely to affect the target.
A spokesman for easyJet said: “This summer we will be operating our UK A319 fleet with a maximum of 150 passengers onboard and three crew in line with CAA regulations.
“This is an effective way of operating our fleet while building additional resilience and flexibility into our operation this summer where we expect to be back to near 2019 levels of flying.”
But British Airways has now cancelled 18,000 flights this summer, and reduced capacity from 85% of pre-pandemic levels to 80%.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph revealed on Wednesday that a Virgin Atlantic flight to New York was forced to return to Heathrow after it was discovered that one of its pilots had not completed their training after the plane had taken off.
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