Agree with Barry here,
Pension funds may well be the shareholders receiving these dividends, but what would happen to these pension funds' investments if EasyJet went down the plughole due to shortage of cash? Better to defer a dividend payment to better times than risk the entire investment, in which case there would be no dividend ever again; not to mention the capital write down.
Emergency times or no emergency times, firms of all types tend to disappear when they run out of liquidity - ie cash. All airlines everywhere will be in a mad dash to conserve cash in order to survive - actually giving it away might reasonably be viewed as insanity.
In the case of airlines, as we have recently seen, poor management decisions have led to dire consequences. What is it about airline management?