Easyjet, too many delays and cancellations: skip the operations manager

Too many delays and too many cancellations. The black summer of low-cost air transport continues and, in particular, that of Easyjet. Peter Bellew has resigned from his position as Chief Operating Officer, officially “to pursue other business opportunities” but mainly due to the wave of disruptions that the company is experiencing due to a lack of staff. David Morgan has been appointed interim Chief Operating Officer and will report directly to CEO, Johan Lundgren. Morgan has been with EasyJet since 2016 and has already spent nearly a year as interim Chief Operating Officer in 2019. Despite the reassurances, Easyjet says it is “absolutely committed to ensuring safe and reliable operations for this summer and to continue operating until 1,700 flights every day, and to transport 250,000 passengers “, the resignation of the operations director can only be read as a surrender in the face of the mistakes made. Not only by him, obviously. Easyjet was one of the companies most affected by the flight cancellations of last few months. Thousands of flights were canceled, even on the day of the scheduled take-off. Last month the airline announced that it would eliminate thousands of summer flights, in an effort to avoid last-minute cancellations. This also in response to limits introduced by the airports of Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol. But the inefficiencies continue and the paradox of having too many flights to do compared to the available workforce cannot be resolved. What happened? The strong recovery in the demand for flights has brought to their knees the airlines that during the pandemic cut their flight and ground personnel, reducing the staff to the minimum necessary. The inability to find the necessary employees is jeopardizing a recovery which, according to the numbers at the beginning of the summer, promises a return to the same levels as in 2019. The problem is that the wrong accounts of the managers are weighing not only on the coffers of their companies but also on the holidays of thousands of passengers, who are experiencing unacceptable inconveniences.