Since my last post I have coincidentally bumped into quite a senior chap within the company who is most definitely 'in the know' as to what is going on. I found my conversation with him quite illuminating - it certainly cast a different slant over what easyJet as a company is doing at East Midlands. None of what I am saying is breaking any confidences, and I hope it may be helpful to people, who like me, are concerned by these decisions.
The first thing that was pointed out to me is that it is not our Flt Ops Director who makes any decisions about where aircraft go - a surprise to me, but there you have it! These decisions are strictly the territory of the Commercial Dept - and even they cannot open or close bases without the specific authorisation of the AMB.
In a nutshell, we have struggled to make East Midlands cost effective over the years. On several occasions in the past, the possiblity of expanding the base has been mooted, but the same arguments that prevented expansion initially have still held good after further examination. There are a variety of difficulties with East Midlands as an area. The passenger catchment area is not huge (around 600,000 people), and it is not a hugely wealthy area compared with other parts of the UK. These demographics create a significantly seasonal pattern to the flying program there. In practice this has led us to really cater for a leisure market rather than a business one, with the routes out of there being much more akin to a typical charter airline rather than a business one. The yields are very low, and the European market offers substantial increases in yield when taking on legacy carriers instead of other low cost carriers.
Our much loved fixed-pattern roster has proved very advantageous to company and crews alike at big bases such as Gatwick, but has proved very inefficient at East Midlands. In practice that means the company has struggled to get more than around 620 hours a year out of pilots - which is way below the competition.
The issue of competition is a tricky one. On initial consideration it would appear ridiculous that we cannot take on the likes of Jet 2 and Ryanair. Ryanair, however, are employing around 40% of their pilots as contractors. They are basically the kicking boys of the company (are not all Ryanair pilots kicking boys?) who can be employed 'as and when' at regional bases. Their employers have no responsibility for their HOTAC, and if they end up staying on park benches, rear seats of cars etc on before, during or after duties then that is their problem. It makes for a hideous but flexible workforce. Jet 2 have a fleet of old bangers which have no capitalisation issues - their 737-300s are cheap to own and it is of no consequence if they are sat around over the winter doing nothing because their cost of ownership is relatively small. Our posh new Airbuses, however, are big money to own and our crew costs are higher due to the 'inefficiencies' mentioned earlier. They need to be constantly flying as time on the ground is money - the seasonal nature of our flying at East Midlands really does not help us at all.
The company are very keen that this 'redeployment' of aircraft is seen as just that. We are still totally committed to expansion but bases like East Midlands do not offer that possibility. The question rightly arises as to what happens to the people employed at East Midlands and other affected bases. The company seems again keen to emphasise that there is no intention to make anyone redundant as there are jobs for all - it is just a question as to where those jobs will be! We are an expanding company and doing well, but there is great pressure to maximise bases doing well and leave those where there is no future. Alas, Dortmund and East Midlands are in that latter category. It is also worth mentioning that nothing is absolutely set in tablets of stone - if the Spanish, for example, recant from their position at Luton then we will not have the reduction in flying being considered.
To some reading this, it may seem I am just trotting out the management line. To an extent that is true - what I have said above comes straight from the horse's mouth. I think it is nonetheless helpful to hear their perspective and I hope it is therefore useful for those affected to hear the logic of what is going on from their perspective - love it or hate it! I was pleasantly surprised during my conversation that the guy I spoke to had a very clear grasp of the issues. From the outside, that is not always immediately apparent, and I for one was somewhat reassured by the conversation. Clearly there are implications for us all in what is happening and we have to recognise the enormous pressure our business as a whole is facing. Nonetheless, to quote Chicken Run - 'the Poultry have a Plan'! Our management seem to be reacting to a difficult situation with some degree of sense, even if it did not initially appear so. There is nothing yet cast in tablets of stone, but it is difficult for me to see a way back for East Midlands. It is, nonetheless, good news that redeployment will be a available to all staff affected.