EasyJet chief slams UK ministers for urging people not to book summer holiday flights

<p>Johan Lundgren</p> (TIM ANDERSON)

Johan Lundgren

(TIM ANDERSON)

The boss of EasyJet today slammed ministers’ advice that people should not be booking their summer holidays abroad due to the continuing Covid crisis.

Matt Hancock, health secretary, and Dominic Raab, foreign secretary, have both said it was too early for Brits to book flights abroad while the outlook for the global pandemic remains so uncertain.

EasyJet chief Johan Lundgren today revealed he had written to ministers to express his concern about such statements.

“It would be much better to tell people they must check their airlines’ cancellation policies. Not tell them not to book at all,” he said.

While he was clearly using the opportunity to talk up what he called his airline’s “market leading” money back guarantees for those prevented from flying by travel restrictions, it appeared part of an expression of frustration at politicians’ handling of the crisis.

Airline chiefs have been increasingly angry at the government’s delays to implement pre-flight screening, which has only just begun after months of lobbying from the industry, and the IATA trade body described ministers’ advice not to book as “injudicious”.

However, Lundgren today also praised the UK government for its vaccine rollout. “The UK seems to be in a pretty good position against other countries. If the EU differences are resolved, it is our core markets where vaccines are most advanced."

Given the EU’s poor performance on vaccine rollout, that looks unlikely in the short term, and easyJet was still refusing to give guidance on future profit expectations due to the uncertainty of the pandemic.

The airline said it expected to be flying no more than 10% of last year’s capacity during the current quarter.

Lundgren repeated his point that there was huge pent up demand among passengers to travel, as shown by the spikes in bookings every time restrictions are lifted. While the economic damage wrought by the pandemic had hurt many, he said, others have saved up money to spend. “There are pockets where people are doing OK,” he said.

He urged the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to cut air passenger duty in the March Budget. “That would give further impetus for customers to book and give airlines more confidence to put more capacity on the market,” he said.

In the quarter ended 31 December, easyJet reported its financial performance was in line with expectations with group revenue down 88% to £165 million and passenger numbers down 87% to 2.9 million.

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