easyJet to restart flights from 15th June

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• Joseph Heenan says:

  21 May21 May 13:24

  Would it be correct to assume that flying a mostly empty plane is more profitable than cancelling the flight and refunding customers?

  • Neil says:

    21 May21 May 13:39

    You would have to assume there is a rule somewhere that stops them doing this otherwise they could fly fully booked flights to somewhere like Greece during June knowing that nobody is allowed in and keep the money.

  • Rob says:

    21 May21 May 14:11

    The aircraft mortgage needs to be paid either way. As long as ticket sales cover fuel costs (currently peanuts), charges and crew costs, it makes sense to fly.

    • Neil says:

      21 May21 May 14:20

      So, hypothetically as nobody knows what will happen on the next few weeks, could BA or Delta or anyone else fly a fully booked plane to somewhere like Orlando in July even if the USA were not allowing non Americans in and keep the money – assuming they had an American crew who would be allowed in.

      • Rob says:

        21 May21 May 15:30

        In theory, although BA lets you cancel without reason due to the Book With Confidence guarantee.

        Plenty of open hotels are refusing refunds for this very reason.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        21 May21 May 19:45

        Cabin crew are exempt from the USA EU ban

    • Funtime says:

      21 May21 May 14:53

      Fuel costs are only “peanuts” if the airline hasn’t hedged.

      • Rob says:

        21 May21 May 15:28

        Wrong. If there is a hedge, that’s a fixed cost. Hedges are based on GUARANTEED volumes of fuel. The fact that the airline isn’t flying makes no difference to whoever is on the other side of the hedge.

        • Callum says:

          21 May21 May 16:21

          easyJet HAVE hedged their fuel, like the majority of European airlines seem to do, so how are their current fuel costs “peanuts”?

          I seem to completely misunderstand hedging if it doesn’t prevent easyJet taking advantage of the current low price. And so does easyJet given they’ve cited this exact cost as being responsible for a huge portion of their loss…

        • Callum says:

          21 May21 May 16:29

          Actually, I think I did completely misunderstand your point! While the overall cost for the fuel will still be high, they’ve already paid the premium whether they fly or not so the additional cost will be peanuts?

          My mistake, sorry!

        • Lady London says:

          21 May21 May 18:00

          yes the hedging will be a sunk cost. marginal cost and revenue is how they should now decide.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          21 May21 May 19:55

          It does depend on the deal if it’s a proper hedge you’re just liable for delta between current rate vs hedged rate * qty hedged. ie hedge 1m unit per week at £50 each if the price is £20 then you owe them £30m this week. If the price is £80 next week theyll owe you £30m.

          If it’s a fixed take or pay deal where you said I’m going to purchase 1m unit a week at £50 if you take 0 units you owe £50m.

          I don’t know the market but could be a mix of both to guarantee fuel supply at their home base and “fix” some of their medium term costs.

• Gumshoe says:

  21 May21 May 14:43

  “Greece has already stated that it will welcome UK tourists from 1st July.”

  Hmmm. I think it may have got cold feet …

  https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/coronavirus-greece-travel-warning-advice-uk-flights-infection-rate-tourism-a9525836.html

• Michael C says:

  21 May21 May 14:57

  Qantas hoping to restart things as from 12 June.

• David S says:

  21 May21 May 20:32

  I bet most countries even in EU will probably ban us to enter their country currently since we have the highest death rates from COVID in Europe and second in the world behind US. So I think the government will try to introduce the 2 week quarantine on arrival to spite. Let’s see how that works.

  • Anna says:

    21 May21 May 21:28

    We haven’t got the highest death rate, though the reported statistics are pretty meaningless as all countries have different testing levels.

    • mradey says:

      22 May22 May 07:23

      Correct.

      We may, though, have the highest proportion of death certificated mentioning Covid. Not the same thing.

    • BrightonReader says:

      22 May22 May 09:17

      You can measure the mortality rate in a number of ways.

      1. % rate of deaths as a proportion of the total population. Even then you can split it into those who died directly from it and those where it contributed. Though if you have it and died in a car crash on the way to hospital how would you classify that?

      2. % of deaths as a proportion of the number of people tested or even % of total number of tests carried out (would be different because some people have had more than one test)

      3. % of deaths as a proportion of positive tests.

      All have advantages and disadvantages. Statisticians seem to be moving to the excess deaths methodology.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    21 May21 May 22:45

    Belgium, Spain, Italy are higher. But it’s arbitrary when reporting and testing is different in every country.

    All cause mortality will tell you more when you look back in a couple months.

    • Ducson says:

      21 May21 May 22:52

      Per capita UK’s has 2nd place in number of deaths even though average age is lower by 5 years than in Italy. There is quite high variance in the mortality if you look at last year statistics so you may over/understate them by couple thousands a month.

• Andrew says:

  21 May21 May 21:24

  Now that one airline’s starting services aren’t they going to force the others hands? If your flight is cancelled you’ve got a right to a reroute by any comparable means. No one’s going to take that option if no one else is flying but as soon as one airline is it could get very expensive for the ones who aren’t, probably even more expensive than a straight refund given the limited supply.

  • marcw says:

    21 May21 May 21:43

    Think about that flights in the next 3-4 weeks are very likely to operate.

  • Lady London says:

    22 May22 May 02:20

    Depends. Interline pricing for air segments is a fraction of retail pricing IIRC. I’ve got a feeling the interline rates across airlines are set up for each year via IATA.

    Newer airlines or airlines with non-standard systems, which I’m guessing might include Ryanair and Easyjet, might rely on separate direct agreements with other airlines.

    • Andrew says:

      22 May22 May 09:36

      Pretty terrible PR hit as well. People will remember how BA cancelled their summer holiday flight and Easyjet stepped in to save the day.

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