easyJet Crew caused Flight Delays

The new chief executive of easyJet, Carolyn McCall, has admitted that there are issues with crewing and staff morale, which has hindered the airline’s punctuality. She has only been with easyJet for a little while, stepping in during the row with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The new boss says that, even though they have had a resilient commercial performance, she has made a top priority out of dealing with personnel issues. Apparently she believes that the strikes by air traffic controllers in Europe aren’t the only reason they have had delayed and canceled flights at key hubs in Berlin and Gatwick.

McCall went on to say that the low-cost carrier is experiencing a crew shortage at Gatwick and having some issues with crew on stand-by. When things go wrong in other cities, the airline doesn’t have the flexibility it needs in its crewing and scheduling, she continued.

In his most recent act in the dispute against the carrier, Sir Stelios drew legal letters last week threatening to take away the easyJet brand in 90 days if they don’t improve their on-time performance. He currently leases the ‘easy’ name to the airline through his easyGroup business.

Figures have shown that only 48% of easyJet’s services from Gatwick were punctual last month. Sir Stelios says that the way the airline is being run is inconsistent with and detrimental to the reputation, goodwill, image and good name of easyGroup IP Licensing and its intellectual property rights.

In a separate letter, he said that the carrier’s operational mess is due to a lack of available staff to cover the number of flights they are offering, which has led to delays and cancellations. According to her earlier statements, McCall agrees with Stelios that their on-time performance needs to be better and staff numbers need to be improved.