OH DEAR!
easyJet cuts flights to ease expansion pressure
Thursday August 8, 10:49 PM EDT
LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest budget airline easyJet said on Thursday it would cut about four flights a day to take pressure off staff and avoid scheduling glitches that led to 28 cancellations in July during rapid expansion.
Word of the move came in a letter to pilots from operations director Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen which said the company's 62 percent passenger growth in July had caused "severe disruption" which could not continue, easyJet said.
"This is not a big scaleback...it's in terms of writing to all your staff, saying thanks, it's been difficult, what are we going to do," an easyJet spokesman said.
As of next week, the Luton-based airline said it planned to cancel four or so flights on routes with low loads. EasyJet operates about 250 flights a day.
The move comes after July cancellations affected around 3,600 of the 1.08 million passengers the airline carried that month.
Budget carriers use fast turnarounds between an aircraft's arrival and departure to cut costs and undercut traditional carriers on short routes.
The speed of their turnaround can make them vulnerable to cancellations when technical or staffing problems occur.
EasyJet blamed July cancellations on problematic British air traffic control, unserviceable aircraft, a new roster for aircrews and problems due to work on Luton airport.
"Occasionally people get things wrong, we had a bad July," the spokesman said.
EasyJet's record-breaking expansion comes as it competes with Ryanair (RYA) to maintain its top spot in Europe.
The pressure put on pilots to meet schedules and achieve rapid growth recently brought claims from one unnamed British air traffic controller that safety could be put at risk.
Industry analysts say budget airlines have an excellent safety record but admit there is a fine balance between a quick, cheap, rapidly expanding service and safety.
On Friday The Times newspaper quoted one easyJet pilot who said the airline's expansion would lead to an accident because crews were disillusioned and exhausted.
"I'd refute absolutely any allegation that we're growing too fast and putting growth and therefore profits before safety." the easyJet spokesman said. "It's been a very difficult month for them, and we accept that some of our crews might be slightly disillusioned."
The spokesman said the "subtext" to the pilot's complaint might be current pay negotiations. Pilots have rejected the first offer put to them by the company.
©2002 Reuters Limited.