easyJet

[TheLocalYokel]

When the first neo arrived it was operated out of Luton. The reason for luton was to compare the neo against the other A320 aircraft. When they had a few more deliveries of the neo aircraft they based them for a few weeks at English bases that had A320 aircraft based also CDG I think.
Im not sure now if they swap them down line or ferry them in to do a swap at which ever airport.

Thanks. I know there was one at BRS a while ago as you point out, but whether it's just the luck of the draw when 320s are swapped from base to base, as I imagine they are from time to time, whether they are neos or not.

 

[superking]

At which ever base they are working out of there has been a lot of comparisons against the other type of A320.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/how-job-easyjet-bristol-1833326

The article states that easyJet is to recruit 50 cabin staff for its Bristol base. Currently the airline employs 390 people in total at its Bristol base.

It's not clear whether this is to replace some members of the existing staff or to increase the overall number. If the latter it might indicate that there will be further growth at the airport next summer.

 

[Jerry]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/how-job-easyjet-bristol-1833326

The article states that easyJet is to recruit 50 cabin staff for its Bristol base. Currently the airline employs 390 people in total at its Bristol base.

It's not clear whether this is to replace some members of the existing staff or to increase the overall number. If the latter it might indicate that there will be further growth at the airport next summer.

If they plan to base the A321 at BRS won't that require a 5th cabin crew member for those aircraft?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If they plan to base the A321 at BRS won't that require a 5th cabin crew member for those aircraft?

The 321s will need a fifth member in the cabin crew but that wouldn't account for an additional 50 staff.

I always found it odd that easyJet's A319s have 156 seats which means that for just an additional six seats they have to employ a fourth cabin crew member on each flight. You'd wonder about the economics of it but they must know what they are doing and, anyway, more and more 319s seem to be being replaced by 320s and now 321s.

 

[Jerry]

The 321s will need a fifth member in the cabin crew but that wouldn't account for an additional 50 staff.

I always found it odd that easyJet's A319s have 156 seats which means that for just an additional six seats they have to employ a fourth cabin crew member on each flight. You'd wonder about the economics of it but they must know what they are doing and, anyway, more and more 319s seem to be being replaced by 320s and now 321s.

It may be they do it because if the aircraft changed to an A320 they wouldn't have a problem with lack of crew and have to roster more?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It may be they do it because if the aircraft changed to an A320 they wouldn't have a problem with lack of crew and have to roster more?

It might but they had the 319s configured to 156 seats from the time they began to replace easyJet's B737s, before they had any 320s which came along later. The extra seats were found by using smaller galleys and, I believe, the repositioning of a toilet. The easyJet 319s also have an additional pair of overwing exits to satisfy safety requirements owing the larger number of onboard seats.

 

[Jerry]

Another possibility could be an agreement with Unions?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Another possibility could be an agreement with Unions?

Once the airline decided to put in 156 seats on their 319s the regulations stipulate four cabin staff - one for every 50 seats. The easyJet B737-300s and later replacements B737-700s had fewer than 150 seats - 149 I believe but can't remember with certainty, it might have been 148 - so only required three cabin attendants.

I forgot to add earlier that ten years ago easyJet bought GB Airways* whose fleet consisted of 320s and 321s. easyJet's experience with the 320s was said to be one factor in their deciding to purchase some new 320s, and a 319 order was switched to a 320 order. They got rid of the GB Airways 321s and it's taken a decade to decide to get some more.

* Prior to being acquired by easyJet, GB Airways operated as a BA franchise in full BA livery. They used to operate a 3 x weekly service from BRS to Tenerife South with their 320s.

 

[superking]

Easyjet could not dispose of the A321 quick enough as they did not fit in with their operations.Didnt monarch take the A321 aircraft.

 

[kraktoa]

Easyjet flights from GAT, STN and luton got a hammering in the weekend. As someone who was lucky enough not to make the trip to the airport as i luckily noticed my flight was cancelled, it mustbe horrible to face long waits at the airport. EZY counters were unmanned for most of the time at these airports according to social media. 20 somethings on low wage with crap pay can findbetterjobs without the hassle.

Someone has asked on twitter. Are EZY and FR giving very bad customer sevice in the past year.

Hell yeah. They are overstretched and cannot cope with their money making expansion schemes.

 

[Jerry]

Hell yeah. They are overstretched and cannot cope with their money making expansion schemes.

Also i think they are gravitating to becoming online airlines where everything is done through their apps and websites thus having no need for staff at the airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Easyjet flights from GAT, STN and luton got a hammering in the weekend. As someone who was lucky enough not to make the trip to the airport as i luckily noticed my flight was cancelled, it mustbe horrible to face long waits at the airport. EZY counters were unmanned for most of the time at these airports according to social media. 20 somethings on low wage with crap pay can findbetterjobs without the hassle.

Someone has asked on twitter. Are EZY and FR giving very bad customer sevice in the past year.

Hell yeah. They are overstretched and cannot cope with their money making expansion schemes.

Friday into Saturday saw horredndous weather in the London area. Numerous flights were cancelled or diverted. The national tv news programmes on Saturday morning were full of it and STN seemed to be a particular focus by the news organisations.

You will know probably better than me that easyJet has been cancelling flights from BRS in the main summer months for a number of years, with the last rotations of the day particularly affected. Often it's been the the result of overseas industrial action leading to aircraft and crews being seriously delayed with crew hours then an issue.

A look at the BRS Cancellations thread will show that easyJet still cancels the odd rotation on Saturday evenings (last Saturday it was Alicante and the Saturday before that Malaga). It appears that their schedule is so full and tight, particularly at weekends, that any significant delay within their programme means that a rotation or two might have to be pulled from the system. Multiply that across easyJet's main airports and it will understandably lead to passenger complains on social media sites and elsewhere.

 

[Jerry]

Surely though they need to have more redundancy in their network? Aircraft and crews as emergency backup. There not exactly a small airline.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Surely though they need to have more redundancy in their network? Aircraft and crews as emergency backup. There not exactly a small airline.

Very little in peak summer I'd imagine. It's not a new phenomenon and although affected passnegers quite rightly complain when flights are cancelled easyJet and Ryanair just keep on growing as airlines and seemingly believe that the majority of customers will remain with them, which seems to be the case.

For starters, at somewhere like Bristol there isn't a lot of choice for scheduled flights beyond easyJet and Ryanair so to go to another airport many miles away might be the old cutting off face to spite nose thing.

 

[kraktoa]

There has to be some governmental intervention in this. They cannot carry on in this fashion and cause hardships to thousands every week.

The airline knows fully that they cannot cater for backlogs, staff absences and time constraints and handling delays. Yet they expand their services knowing fully well that there will be problems.

Their profits rise as they put huge hurdles in the compensation process and make it a lengthy nline process so passengers lose interest. This is a type of organised corporate bullying the likes of which were unheard of a decade ago in the tourism industry.

There has to be some governmental intervention. Or do they love all the taxes going into the exchequer.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

It all depends on the company values.

I do think though with each base they need to build their schedules with much more flexibility especially when they are this size & scale.

For example:
Aircraft 1 - Used on the first morning wave departures & back by lunch. Sit on the ground for 4/5 hours and used on the evening rotations to PMI, IBZ, ALC, AGP wherever.
Aircraft 2 - Used on a 4 sector day from first wave OR a long sector day and back by tea time. Sit on the ground covering the evening wave.

That then gives operations the opportunity to roll the programme and give more flexibility when encountering delays etc.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There has to be some governmental intervention in this. They cannot carry on in this fashion and cause hardships to thousands every week.

The airline knows fully that they cannot cater for backlogs, staff absences and time constraints and handling delays. Yet they expand their services knowing fully well that there will be problems.

Their profits rise as they put huge hurdles in the compensation process and make it a lengthy nline process so passengers lose interest. This is a type of organised corporate bullying the likes of which were unheard of a decade ago in the tourism industry.

There has to be some governmental intervention. Or do they love all the taxes going into the exchequer.

I read on another message board over the weekend someone writing in connection with the Ryanair cancellations at STN who said in effect that if people book at cheap prices with the likes of Ryanair they know what they are letting themselves in for if flights are cancelled. I think the advice was to pay a bit more and go with a 'proper' airline. I've read similar comments by readers in the Bristol Post when easyJet problems have been highlighted.

Yet British Airways (in the form of BACF) cancelled the BRS-FLR sector on Saturday (and presumably the FLR-STN sector which I assume the aircraft would have flown after BRS-FLR had that operated). A lot of people would regard BA as a 'proper' airline yet they can have their problems too.

Now I fully agree with you that no airline should be regularly cancelling flights unless it's for something beyond their control. Until this century it was unheard of for regional airports like Bristol to have the sort of network they enjoy now. Even in the 1990s I'd often speak to a fellow passenger who had never flown before. That rarely happens these days. My four grandchildren (all in the 18-21 age group) have all flown in aircraft on more occasions than they've used a bus. Their parents always had cars and now so do they. Flying has become so commonplace that there are many people who fly but don't travel by bus.

The low cost business model is predicated on the supermarket pile' em high and sell' em cheap - well relatively cheap, at least compared with fares in pre-low cost airline days. The downside is that there is no slack in the system when delays occur.

I don't fly anything like as often as I once did. I no longer enjoy the experience - it's a hassle. When my wife and I flew from BRS to DUB last month I was alive to the possibility of Ryanair cancelling the flight. I'd made a list of alternative airlines, airports and trains to reach such airports in case we arrived at BRS to find a cancelled flight. Now DUB is relatively simple to find an alternative - it would be inconvenient - but many overseas destinations are not capable of finding another way of getting there if the flight is cancelled.

I don't know what responsibility, if any, the CAA has with the continuing and seemingly growing list of cancellations which, in fairness to the airlines, are often the result of external action such as overseas industrial action.

 

[kraktoa]

Why is it that thegoverment casts such a close and critical eye on Railway timetables and not the airlines?

Northern Rail has been in the news for months now because their new time tables caused such hardship to people. There should be a similar focus on the airline industry and their cancellations.

It has got to the stage where it has become a serious issue.

 

[Jerry]

go with a 'proper' airline.

What is a proper airline these days? They all offer the same type of service and pricing structure. If you look on social media on posts concerning Cardiff many don't consider Flybe a 'proper' airline but Easyjet and Ryanair are. Even airlines like KLM are now offering different types of fares, there aren't many full service airlines about anymore.