30th Mar 2020 08:54
(Alliance News) - easyJet PLC said Monday it has fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft due to "unprecedented" travel restrictions imposed by governments around the world in response to the new coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of national lockdowns across many European countries.
Shares in the budget airline were down 9.8% on Monday at 536.51 pence each.
Airlines have taken a hit as countries around the globe close their borders and ordered citizens to stay at home as much as possible to help contain the virus spread.
easyJet said that at this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights and will continuously evaluate the situation based on regulations and demand.
"We continue to take every action to remove cost and non-critical expenditure from the business at every level in order to help mitigate the impact from the coronavirus. The grounding of aircraft removes significant cost," the company said.
The carrier stressed that it maintains a strong balance sheet, with no debt re-financings due until 2022.
easyJet has operated more than 650 rescue flights to date, with the last of these rescue flights on Sunday. It plans to continue operating rescue flights as requested by governments.
The FTSE 100 company and the Unite union have reached an agreement on furlough arrangements for its cabin crew. The agreement will be effective from Wednesday for two months and means that crew will be paid 80% of their average pay through the UK government job retention scheme.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive, said: "We are working tirelessly to ensure that easyJet continues to be well positioned to overcome the challenges of coronavirus."
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
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