easyJet grounds fleet
easyJet’s fleet of planes has been grounded for at least two months due to coronavirus
The collapse in demand for air travel has led it to take serious measures, including seeking to reduce £4.5 billion in spending, including payments for new planes from Airbus, and furloughing 4,000 of its 9,000 UK staff for two months from 1 April. Cabin crew will be placed on the Government's emergency job retention scheme and paid 80 per cent of their average salary.
Now, more than ever, we need to support people. Not profiteer whilst the fleet is grounded
The carrier said that it completed its final rescue flight on Sunday, and that there can be ‘no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights’.
EasyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said: “I am extremely proud of the way in which people across easyJet have given their absolute best at such a challenging time, including so many crew who have volunteered to operate rescue flights to bring our customers home.
“We are working tirelessly to ensure that easyJet continues to be well positioned to overcome the challenges of coronavirus.”
How will this affect customers? easyJet spoke to the BBC, saying: "Customers on cancelled flights can transfer to an alternative flight free of charge or receive a voucher for the value of their booking online or claim a refund through our contact centre.
"We are experiencing higher than average wait times so we would thank customers for their patience and assure them that these entitlements will be available long after their cancelled flight has flown."
It seems customers are not happy, though, with many taking to Twitter to vent their frustrations over the difficulties of obtaining a refund. One unhappy customer tweeted: “Why has @easyJet removed the request refund option from cancelled flights and not taking calls at the UK contact centre to take refund requests? Rip off [sic] merchants”.
In addition, a lot of feathers have been ruffled by easyJet allegedly going ahead with a £174 million dividend payout to shareholders despite appealing for taxpayer support. One Twitter user said: “I’m really uneasy with EasyJet reportedly paying its shareholders £174m in dividends, and then days later, using the Government job retention scheme to pay its staff...”
Another person Tweeted: “£174 million was paid to Easy Jet [sic] shareholders 10 days ago. If you don't start refunding customers now. Refund us all now and you'll get our customers back. Fail to refund and we will never fly with you again.”
With easyJet having acknowledged that its call centre is especially busy right now, hopefully customers can be patient and accept that they will be refunded … eventually. Rob Nunn, an easyJet shareholder, tweeted: “As a shareholder of @easyJet I’ve written to the CEO this morning urging that shareholders decline the imminent dividend payment. Now, more than ever, we need to support people. Not profiteer whilst the fleet is grounded.” It’s true that now, more than ever, both patience and kindness are virtues.