EasyJet has grounded all its flights.

EasyJet has grounded its entire fleet today (30 March) as a result of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange seen by TRBusiness, the budget carrier states there is ‘no certainty’ on a date for restarting commercial flights, adding it will continuously evaluate the situation according to regulations and demand and will update the market once a position has been established.

Travel restrictions and country-wide lockdowns led easyJet to ground the majority of its fleet from 24 March and operate at a maximum 10% of its usual capacity, mainly on routes to, from and within the UK.

Gategroup Holding manages easyJet’s onboard retail programme. It renewed the contract in 2016 through to 2022. Gateretail declined to comment when contacted by TRBusiness.

UNITE AGREEMENT PROTECTS WAGES

To date, easyJet has repatriated more than 45,000 customers through more than 650 rescue flights, the last of which was operated on Sunday 29 March.

It confirms it will continue to work with government bodies to provide additional rescue flights as requested and is taking every action to plug non-critical expenditure across the business, including grounding flights, to mitigate against the impacts of Covid-19.

The airline has reached an agreement with trade union Unite on furlough arrangements for cabin crew. This comes into effect from 1 April for two months and means crew will be paid 80% of their average wages via the government’s job retention scheme.

Johan Lundgren, CEO, easyJet stated: “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.” 

EasyJet shares sunk 14% to 537.4p on the London Stock Exchange in early morning trading, after hitting at a high of 630p shortly after opening. At the time of writing, shares were trading at around 555p.

Gategroup Holding’s revenue grew by 0.5% in 2019 to CHF4.9bn with EBITDA increasing by 28% to CHF440.3 million.