easyJet to close its bases at Stansted, Southend and Newcastle

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• Rose says:

  30 Jun30 June 15:27

  Other sources are citing that this is a proposal but your headline makes it seem like a certainty.

  • Rob says:

    30 Jun30 June 15:44

    It is a (virtual) certainty. The consultation is a legal requirement, however.

    • Euan says:

      30 Jun30 June 18:23

      Other sources have now changed their headlines to match you’re tone so kudos for getting it right.

  • Lady Londonn says:

    30 Jun30 June 22:20

    “Consultation” is required by law but usually means anything but that. An employer has mostly made their decisions down to a fine level of detail before consultation even begins.

    For most people you should treat “consultation” as your final reminder to find another job. Practically, it gives the employee a longer notice period.

    If employees are represented, typically by a union, there’s a dance routine to follow on both sides where any variation in terms or better severance offer is explored (the possible range and flexibility of these offers, the employer already decided before consultation).

• Charlie says:

  30 Jun30 June 16:01

  Doesn’t mean end of services from non-hub airports. They could do A to B to C back to A. They already do quite a lot of this around Europe.

  • memesweeper says:

    1 Jul1 July 09:47

    True, but I think it will mean the end of many domestic services from STN and SEN.

• Aston100 says:

  30 Jun30 June 16:02

  Do you think in the future the travel industry might be encouraged to set aside some money in case of mass refunds, rather than using customer money as interest free loans?

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    30 Jun30 June 17:04

    Do you think they use it as interest free loans or do you think they are using tomorrow’s money to cover today’s expenses. Eventually, that comes back to bite you very hard.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      1 Jul1 July 00:27

      That’s called cash flow management 🙂

• flyforfun says:

  30 Jun30 June 16:15

  Is this likely to be the majority of flights at these airports? Is there a list anywhere of affected flights?

  • Rob says:

    30 Jun30 June 16:26

    No list. It won’t happen for a few weeks at least anyway due to the consultation period.

    • Katy says:

      30 Jun30 June 20:29

      When you say a few weeks, how long is usually allowed for consultation? I have a flight from bcn-ncl on 2nd August and just trying to work out how likely it is to be cancelled.

      • Rob says:

        30 Jun30 June 20:37

        45 days isn’t it? It was with BA and the cabin crew.

        • Katy says:

          30 Jun30 June 21:17

          Fingers crossed!

        • ChrisBCN says:

          1 Jul1 July 00:49

          Katy, there is an easyJet hub at BCN, so if NCL does close, they may choose to operate it using BCN plane/crew, so it doesn’t mean your flight will be cancelled. The timings would change in at least one direction though (rather than NCL>BCN>NCL the plane would be going BCN>NCL>BCN).

      • Lady London says:

        30 Jun30 June 22:29

        IIRC it used to be 90 days if more than a certain number of jobs were disappearing + otherwise less. Got a feeling it will be in range 30-45.

        Individual’s notice period cannot run parallel with consultation period, it has to follow it. Companies can decide just to pay the notice period and not have the employee work their notice period – if their contract allows it. Employee can insist on working their notice period if contract does not say the employer can do this

• Nick says:

  30 Jun30 June 17:07

  It does not necessarily mean the “end of flights to non-hub airports”. EasyJet has been using W patterns and ‘triangle’ ops to do this for years – no reason they can’t do the same here.

  • ADS says:

    1 Jul1 July 14:35

    Yes indeed – unless Rob has information to the contrary ?

• Simon says:

  30 Jun30 June 17:29

  I hope Southend survives; so much investment over the past few years as you say; new train station, new terminal building.

  • J says:

    30 Jun30 June 22:21

    Decent airport too – more pleasant experience than Stansted and not a lot further for me.

    • Lady London says:

      1 Jul1 July 21:09

      And a reasonable Holiday Inn Express right at the entrance to the airport.

      • Rob says:

        2 Jul2 July 09:38

        Southend is a Holiday Inn (and quite a nice one), not an Express. Have stayed there.

• Rich says:

  30 Jun30 June 18:20

  NCL (my local) has always been a struggle for easy. The bucket and spade routes tend to be ever-present, but everything else comes and goes. I would suspect more going than coming in the next few years.

  • Charlieface says:

    30 Jun30 June 22:21

    Indeed, the same happened after 2008, and it’s only just regained that level last year. Who knows what it will look like over the next few.
    I always thought their main issue is they don’t attract enough business flying and therefore hub flights. They only just last year got MUC, their only other big hubs are LHR, CDG and AMS.

• @mkcol says:

  30 Jun30 June 22:57

  Berlin too

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