EasyJet has expanded its summer schedule following rising demand and says it plans to operate about 1,000 flights a day in August. The budget carrier said popular destinations included Faro and Nice, along with city breaks such as Amsterdam and Paris. EasyJet will have 210 planes flying this month and expects to operate 40% of its capacity between July and September, higher than the 30% predicted at its first-half results.
Johan Lundgren, the chief executive, said the UK’s sudden decision to reimpose a quarantine for people arriving from Spain last month had not caused customers to cancel their travel plans but put them off making new bookings to the country. He said holidaymakers were now looking at other beach destinations such as Greece, Turkey and Croatia.
“Customers have an underlying desire and willingness to book and travel,” he said, with demand for flights to Portugal boosted by second-homeowners, despite a quarantine requirement. Lundgren called for more engagement from the UK government, saying the aviation sector had not been consulted about the quarantine move in advance. He proposed regional quarantines: “We urgently need to target quarantine requirements to where spikes have occurred rather than at national level,.”
EasyJet, along with other airlines, was recently criticised by the Civil Aviation Authority for not issuing refunds for cancelled flights quickly enough. Lundgren said he could understand the frustration of customers and the airline was processing refunds within 28 days, after hiring hundreds of people to deal with a huge backlog.
