EasyJet makes major change to flights to help tackle staff shortages

Do you have flight vouchers due to expire soon? (Photo: Shutterstock)Do you have flight vouchers due to expire soon? (Photo: Shutterstock)
Do you have flight vouchers due to expire soon? (Photo: Shutterstock)

EasyJet has announced plans to remove seats from its planes so they can fly with fewer crew members and tackle the staff shortages faced by the airline.

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The number of crew required on flights depends on the amount of passengers onboard and is dictated by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Here we take a look at why easyJet is planning to remove seats from planes.

Why is easyJet planning to remove seats?

Removing the back row of seats on its A319 planes, the budget airline will limit the number of passengers per flight to 150 and will be able to fly with three crew members instead of four.

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This news comes after European airlines, including easyJet, were forced to cancel thousands of flights in the lead-up to Easter.

The airline expects to operate “near” pre-pandemic levels of flying this summer and in the first three months of 2022, it operated at 80% of 2019 capacity.

What has been said?

EasyJet told the PA news agency that this was an “effective way” of operating its fleet this summer.

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The statement said: “This summer we will be operating our UK A319 fleet with a maximum of 150 passengers on board and three crew in line with CAA regulations”

“This is an effective way of operating our fleet while building additional resilience and flexibility into our operation this summer where we expect to be back to near 2019 levels of flying.”

A version of this article originally appeared on NationalWorld.com

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