easyJet

[Sherburnflyer92]

In terms of the market in these unprecedented times, it might reasonably be thought that the further away in time from the present the more likely it is that aviation will be in a better shape. If they think they can operate 33 return flights a week on the EDI in September for example, you'd think that next April ought to be even easier to fill.

I think business travel is linked into school holidays. Therefore in September with most schools back, most business people will also be back at work and potentially making journeys to and from EDI from BRS and vice versa. With April and Easter, Scotland have always been known for been different school holidays to England, so with either getting 2 weeks off you've got at least a 3 week period (if you cross 1 week over) or maximum 4 to 5 week period, where demand will be less so.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think business travel is linked into school holidays. Therefore in September with most schools back, most business people will also be back at work and potentially making journeys to and from EDI from BRS and vice versa. With April and Easter, Scotland have always been known for been different school holidays to England, so with either getting 2 weeks off you've got at least a 3 week period (if you cross 1 week over) or maximum 4 to 5 week period, where demand will be less so.

Good point about EDI and indeed GLA which also sees big increases from September and through next winter but not next April and May.

Other airports showing large increases are BFS and CDG from September through the winter but not next April in May. In addition there will be a daily Orly service that didn't operate last winter. AMS also sees substantial increases in September and October but next winter sees it returning to its 'usual' winter schedule.

 

[Cambrian]

I wonder if the announcement of an increase in flight frequencies be something to do with the forthcoming special shareholders meeting called by Stelios, who is calling for the board to be sacked and the order for new planes to be scrapped.
Willie Walsh of IAG group said today that he did not expect aviation to be back to 2019 levels until 2023 at the very earliest. It seems strange that Easyjet think that there is going to be a clamour for people to get on planes as early as this summer.

 

[Jerry]

I think it's probably because domestic travel will return first and because of the collapse of Flybe they now have a monopoly for the whole SW of the British isles.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I wonder if the announcement of an increase in flight frequencies be something to do with the forthcoming special shareholders meeting called by Stelios, who is calling for the board to be sacked and the order for new planes to be scrapped.
Willie Walsh of IAG group said today that he did not expect aviation to be back to 2019 levels until 2023 at the very earliest. It seems strange that Easyjet think that there is going to be a clamour for people to get on planes as early as this summer.

I think it's probably because domestic travel will return first and because of the collapse of Flybe they now have a monopoly for the whole SW of the British isles.

Last week in the Bristol press easyJet were quoted as saying that the increased frequencies at BRS from September are the result of Flybe going out of business. They have increased frequencies, mainly on domestic routes, at other airports possibly with the end of Flybe in mind again.

It does seem optimistic in the extreme to believe that these extra flights will be needed as soon as September. No doubt they are hoping that a reasonable number of people will book which will help cashflow.

They were selling flights for May until recently. Now the first bookable flights are from 1 June (at all their airports). None of the May flights have operated yet and none is likelt to during the rest of the month, but some punters will have booked and paid in recent weeks.

Having said that, the fares for flights in early June are very high - almost as a means of putting off people. The cheapest I can find for the BRS-GLA route for example in the first two weeks of June is £98.99 per sector with most single sector fares over £100, well over £100 in many cases. It seems certain that the June flights won't operate either, certainly not in the early part of the month and probably not at all in June.

 

[Severn]

Regarding the extra flights from the end-of August, these will not require an extra based aircraft. Some "peak-summer" routes end and other "summer" routes see slight reductions meaning extra flights to the aforementioned (GLA, EDI, CDG etc) are increased. This happens every summer, but with bases like GLA and BFS gaining extra aircraft from September there will be more flights operated to BRS from these bases as well. To give you an idea of scheduling, an aircraft that operated from BRS to KGS and LPA on a Monday in August will instead operate to EDI, GLA, CDG and AMS on a Monday in September given their shorter flight times.

Currently August 2020 sees 394x weekly departures scheduled and September sees 430x weekly departures (which is by far the highest number of weekly flights ever operated by easyJet from Bristol).
This means a week in September 2020 will see 43x more departures than the same week in 2019! The increases will continue throughout the winter with a week in October seeing an increase of 49x weekly flights over last year and and increase of 38x in November.

The changes I have found so far between a week in mid-August and mid-September are:

Increases
GLA - 20 > 29 (+9)
EDI - 25 > 33 (+8)
BFS - 19 > 26 (+7)
AMS - 12 > 20 (+8)
NCL - 14 > 15 (+1)
CDG - 7 > 14 (+7)
SXF - 6 > 7 (+1)
VCE - 5 > 7 (+2)
TFS - 4 > 5 (+1)
VIE - 2 > 3 (+1)

Reductions
PMI - 19 > 18 (-1)
AGP - 16 > 15 (-1)
PRG - 7 > 6 (-1)
IBZ - 4 > 3 (-1)

Routes Ending in September
NTE (3x weekly in August)
LRH (2x weekly in August)

 

[Seasider]

How confident are you of these flights taking place when everybody else is talking of reductions in frequency? Over 80 of the flights listed are unlikely to operate if the government apply the 14 day isolation rule.

 

[Severn]

How confident are you of these flights taking place when everybody else is talking of reductions in frequency? Over 80 of the flights listed are unlikely to operate if the government apply the 14 day isolation rule.

That’s the million dollar question!

 

[Seasider]

So basically, it's a "wish list". Thanks for the clarification.

 

[andrewgreen]

EasyJet are set to resume flights from June 15th , Bristol-Belfast resumes but that seems a relatively small start considering the size of the base

 

[TheLocalYokel]

EasyJet are set to resume flights from June 15th , Bristol-Belfast resumes but that seems a relatively small start considering the size of the base

It's a small start all round. This linked BBC report sets out all the easyJet routes that will restart on 15 June.

Coronavirus: EasyJet passengers will be required to wear masks

The airline will restart a "small number" of routes in June and flyers must use masks.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[superking]

A lot of airports Easyjet fly to round Europe are staying shut for the time being. Also airports that are open are doing the same as us with a 2 week quarantine which will put many off flying.

 

[kraktoa]

We should hear of the EZY boardroom shenanigans on the 22nd. If Stelio gets his way.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

We should hear of the EZY boardroom shenanigans on the 22nd. If Stelio gets his way.

Sir Stelios failed in his attempt to oust four members of the easyJet board, including the chairman and CEO.

EasyJet founder loses bid to oust management in strategy showdown

EasyJet <EZJ.L> founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou failed in his attempt to oust the airline's top three bosses on Friday, giving it a brief respite in its battle for survival during the coronavirus pandemic.

www.reuters.com

 

[kraktoa]

Sir Stelios failed in his attempt to oust four members of the easyJet board, including the chairman and CEO.

EasyJet founder loses bid to oust management in strategy showdown

EasyJet <EZJ.L> founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou failed in his attempt to oust the airline's top three bosses on Friday, giving it a brief respite in its battle for survival during the coronavirus pandemic.

www.reuters.com

The boardroom shenanigans laid bare in this site www.easy.com

Stelios seems bent on taking this forward and claims that Airbus are vote rigging by controlling the shareholding companies thereby getting airlines to vote to buy more Airbus planes. This extent of conflict at the board does not augur well for the future.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The boardroom shenanigans laid bare in this site www.easy.com

Stelios seems bent on taking this forward and claims that Airbus are vote rigging by controlling the shareholding companies thereby getting airlines to vote to buy more Airbus planes. This extent of conflict at the board does not augur well for the future.

Sir Stelios has been pursuing his single issue campaign (slower growth of the fleet) since he resigned from the easyJet board ten years ago.

I smiled wryly when I read his statement issued today after the vote when he said that the 'Scoundrels' will bankrupt the company. If he continues to divert the company's resources, time, focus and money answering his allegations he might well help to do that himself.

At this unprecedented time in aviation industry history everybody, including the major shareholder, should be singing from the same hymn sheet to ensure the company's survival.

I'm no apologist for easyJet. I've used them on countless occasions over the past 20 years and as an airline customer I've always found them entirely satisfactory. As to the current dispute, I have no idea who has the right of it. What I do know is that the shareholders have trousered over £170 million from the company in dividend payments this year, with the major shareholder Sir S reportedly reaping the lion's share at around £60 million, yet at the same time they seek tax payers' aid and are dilatory in the extreme when it comes to returning cash to customers who have had their flights cancelled, most of whom are far less well off than Sir S .

 

[andrewgreen]

While I agree with most of that I must disagree with the way they are handling the refunds .i have recently had a flight to Faro cancelled and received a full refund in less than two weeks which is good deal better than MOL s offering off maybe by the end of the year !

 

[TheLocalYokel]

While I agree with most of that I must disagree with the way they are handling the refunds .i have recently had a flight to Faro cancelled and received a full refund in less than two weeks which is good deal better than MOL s offering off maybe by the end of the year !

You're very lucky compared with me.

We had flights cancelled that should have taken place in the third week of March. Initially the easyJet website just took you around in circles when the refund option was chosen. They obviously wanted people to either ransfer to a later date or accept a transfer voucher if they had no date in mind. It wasn't just me because the press was full of the 'circle to nowhere' refund route. It was impossible to contact them by phone because you would be told of an inordinate delay before your call could be answered followed shortly afterwards by the call being disconnected. Again my experience was shared by others according to press reports. Their web chatline was taken down almost as soon as it became clear that mass cancellations would be taking place.

By the third week in April easyJet had altered their website refund request route by making it more obvious and easier. I appplied for a refund on 23 April and am still waiting. Ominously their website stated that they aim to process refund requests within 28 days but if nothing has been heard after 90 days they should be contacted again.

Today I've been told that the second flight in another booking has been cancelled so I shall now be applying for a refund for the two flights in that booking.

 

[Marko1]

I transferred our flights from Easter to October after giving up trying to get a refund. Let’s hope I can go on it now. We all got to get travelling again as soon as it is safe to do so otherwise who knows what travel will be like

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I transferred our flights from Easter to October after giving up trying to get a refund. Let’s hope I can go on it now. We all got to get travelling again as soon as it is safe to do so otherwise who knows what travel will be like

We've accepted a voucher with a rail holiday travel company after our holiday this spring was cancelled. Whether that company will still be around later this year is anyone's guess but the holiday is ABTA-bonded. With Shearings going into administration today it's impossible to even hazard a guess as to who will survive.