Easyjet halts 90% of flights as virus sends aviation into crisis freefall
● 248 jobs could go at Edinburgh Airport in ‘worst case scenario’
Scotland’s biggest airline is to ground at least 90 per cent of its flights from next week as travel restrictions and plummeting demand devastate the aviation industry.
Easyjet will follow rivals Ryanair in halting most of its services with many other carriers expected to follow suit.
The union Unite claimed Edinburgh Airport is seeking 248 redundancies among its 750 staff.
That is far more than around 100 confirmed on Thursday as the country’s busiest passenger terminal was being partially closed because of forecast “virtual zero” traffic for two months.
Unite official Sandy Smart said: “The brutal cuts proposed by [owners] GIP would result in hundreds of jobs losses and a 20 per cent reduction inpayformorethan500workers for eight months.”
The airport said it was a “worst case scenario”.
The Scotsman understands long-haul airline Emirates is poised to stop flights between Edinburgh and its Dubai hub, which provide one-stop links between Scotland and Asia and Australia.
The airline is also expected to halve its Glasgow service to Dubai to a single daily flight.
An industry source said: “They are suspending Edinburgh but keeping Glasgow at one daily Boeing 777 until 30 June when they hope to return to a normal schedule.”
A UK spokesman for Emirates said any flight updates would be posted on the airline’s website.
It stated: “The situation remains dynamic, and our flight schedules may change at short notice to comply with regulatory directives or operational requirements.”
Easyjet said it expected its rescue flights to bring passengers back to the UK would be completed by Monday.
The airline said it then planned to operate a “minimal schedule of essential services on some routes”.
These will comprise “a maximum of 10 per cent of our usual capacity during this time of year and mainly routes to, from and within the UK”.
Passengers with reservations can change them without charge.
Easyjet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “These are unprecedented times for the airline industry. We know how important it is for customers to get home and so are continuing to operate rescue flights over the coming days to repatriate them.
“Significantly reducing our flying programme is the right thing to do when many countries have issued advice to their citizens not to travel unless it is essential.
“The aircraft groundings will also remove significant levels of variable costs at a time when this remains crucial.”