EasyJet has said it believes summer airport chaos is a “one-off” and it expects “all parties to build greater resilience” in time for the peak 2023 holiday periods.
The low-cost carrier also reported a £133 million hit to trading from disruption during the three months to June.
Many thousands of people across the UK have seen their long-awaited holidays start or end – and sometimes both – in tears amid a wave of flight cancellations.
Airlines and airports have struggled to cope with labour shortages and strong demand for travel following the easing of Covid restrictions.
One airline, Flybe, even ran out of aircraft and was unable to deliver its planned summer schedule.
Holiday giant Tui has been at the sharp end of stinging criticism from unhappy passengers, including people flying to and from Aberdeen, after they were stranded.
Tui was forced to shell out for 120 taxis after Aberdeen-bound passengers got stuck in Newcastle.
And an 81-year-old north-east man suffered a “complete fiasco” of a journey from Cyprus to Glasgow, with multiple delays. It took him more than 40 hours to get home.
And just yesterday The Press & Journal reported how an Aberdeen family’s £12,500 “dream holiday” was shattered after spending 17-and-a-half-hours waiting for a flight home.
In it’s trading update earlier today, Luton-based easyJet said more than 70% of its passengers affected by travel disruption during recent months were transferred to an alternative flight within 24 hours. It also highlighted “proactive action” to cut capacity.
The hit from the travel chaos left easyJet nursing headline losses of £114m for the third quarter of its trading year, but the airline’s holiday arm – easyJet holidays – generated profits of £16m.
Passenger numbers increased to 22 million from just three million a year earlier, when travel was severely curtailed by Covid-19.
95% of schedule delivered
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “Delivering for customers this summer remains our highest priority. During the quarter we carried seven times more customers than the same time last year and operated 95% of our schedule. We have taken action to build the additional resilience needed this summer and the operation has now normalised.
“Despite the loss this quarter due to the short-term disruption issues, the return to flying at scale has demonstrated the strategic initiatives launched during the pandemic are delivering now and with more to come.
“EasyJet expects capacity to be circa 90% of Q4 2019 across our network of major European airports, with load factors targeted above 90%.”
EasyJet’s route network includes flights from Aberdeen to London Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Geneva, while its services from Inverness link the Highland capital with Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Bristol.
Conversation