Despite the foolishness of the original question from someone who clearly knows nothing about the industry, there are some interesting issues. I have worked for easyJet for many years, and at first I did not know who U2 was! Anyway, having established that I actually work for them, the crewing levels are quite interesting. I think FLEXPWR is not totally correct on the issue of crew utilisation, in that we generally speaking we try to avoid using more than 2 crews per day on the utilisation cycle of the aircraft - it is incredibly inefficient. A crew costs about £250,000 a year all in and that is a big resource to have too many of. The problem is that, as we have discovered last year, you cannot afford to get those numbers wrong. You are indeed better to have a few too many than a few too little - a very difficult balancing act that has massive repercussions if you get it wrong. The equation is further complicated by the various contracts in place at different bases - big bonuses for those that get it right and a boot out the door for those that do not!