Airlines easyJet grounds entire fleet

During the Coronavirus pandemic, easyJet will ground its entire fleet temporarily. The carrier experienced, like almost every other airline on the planet, heavy decreases in flight demand. Most of the bookings had been cancelled.

easyJet also announced that it had to take this decision due to the "unprecedented travel restrictions", which have been imposed by the governments in Europe. The budget airline also said that it will continue to work with government bodies to operate additional rescue flights.

Until Sunday last week, easyJet performed more than 650 flights in order to transport passengers back into their respective countries. On this way, the carrier was able to bring 45.000 customers home.

Three days ago, easyJet announced, that only the majority of the fleet will stay on the ground. easyJet stated, that some routes mainly out of London will be maintained. Now, the carrier said that all flights have been cancelled.

According to aviation media, easyJet will pay the cabin crew an average of 80% of their normal pay through a government scheme for the upcoming two months April and May.

During this pandemic, the aviation sector is one of the most affected. The industry is taking brunt of government´s restrictions to travel and to go out. Many people are also feeling scared to travel on aircraft during this difficult time.

Many airlines are currently grounding the majority of their fleet, other airlines are stopping their flights completely, in order to save costs as good as possible. In the U.S., many airports are full of grounded aircraft and in Europe, smaller airports like Rostock in Germany or Dübendorf in Switzerland are becoming storage airports.

Where easyJet will be grounding its fleet, is yet to be announced. It is expected however, that the majority of aircraft will be staying in the London area. The easyJet group operates with a fleet of 337 aircraft. The group consists of the subsidiary airlines easyJet, easyJet Switzerland and easyJet Europe.