EasyJet Delays 24 New Aircrafts, why?

British low-cost airline group EasyJet has recently decided to postpone the delivery of 24 airbuses due to the current coronavirus pandemic which has caused the business of air transportation to plummet than anyone could have suspected or predicted drastically.

On Thursday, 9th April, a meeting was held with shareholders after the airline’s founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou who has 34% of the shares had concerns over the airline’s expansion plans during these times. This decision has led to a cut back on its plane production while airlines try to save money as they might be going for months without income. All production has been put on hold across the board to take in the hit being received from manufacturing during the coronavirus crisis.

The delay of this means easyJet won’t take any planes in the 2021 financial year; the European manufacturer said it had received a bunch of questions on postponements and deferrals into next year. EasyJet has come forward to be among the first airlines to publicly brief customers on their jet delivery deferral plans.

All EasyJet aircraft and flights have been grounded indefinitely, and even though they are yet to confirm when they will be back in operation, despite the risk on the loss of jobs, they have discharged their staff giving them a two-month leave of absence, which suggests that they may not be operating till June, but this is uncertain because it also depends on whether or not there is an extension on the current lockdown situation. They however secured a €600million government-supported loan to help it during this lockdown period.

Despite the effect of the pandemic and potential loss it has caused the business, they are now allowing passengers to change their flights free of charge, to any date in the future for more travel flexibility and they also went on to launch winter 2020 flights for just £30, as well as package holidays from winter 2020 to October 2021.