EasyJet could keep middle seats empty once travel restrictions ease

The CEO has said a free middle seat is ‘one’ of the options being explored
Getty

There’s possibly no greater joy than booking onto a flight only to find out that there is an empty space between you and your row mate - there's room to stretch out and no passive-aggressive armrest fighting.

This joy could become the norm once travel restrictions are lifted, as budget airline easyJet has said it is exploring keeping middle seats free to adhere to social distancing rules.

CEO of easyJet, Johan Lundgren said it was ‘one’ of the options the airline is looking into once its flights resume after grounding its entire fleet on March 30.

He told the Guardian: “Our assumption is that load factors will not be back to normal early on, which means that we will have the opportunity for a middle-seat option, but I’m talking about this as an initial phase and nobody knows for how long that phase will be. We’re also looking at various disinfection programmes on the aircraft.”

A spokesperson for easyJet told the Standard: “We are continuing to explore all ideas around what health and safety measures will best protect our customers and employees when we restart commercial flights.

“Based on our discussions with EASA and other agencies, it is likely there may be new ways of operating. This could include leaving middle seats empty to create more space for passengers. We don’t know what they will be as yet so will assess these as and when we are required to introduce them in order to operate using best practice and in compliance with any rules or new ways of operating as the safety of our passengers and crew remains our highest priority.”

While there is no set date on when flights will resume, easyJet put its winter flights on sale in mid-March and has said its winter bookings are ‘well ahead’ of last year. Customers who haven’t been able to travel on their flight booked prior to the coronavirus pandemic have been given the option of changing their flights without a fee, a full refund or flight credit. The airline says half of the passengers have chosen an alternative flight or flight credit.

Like most airlines and players in the travel industry, easyJet has suffered a financial hit as a result of the pandemic. This morning, the airline revealed it has raised between £1.8bn and £1.9bn to help fund it during the COVID-19 outbreak, yet it could still face significant losses.

EasyJet estimates a loss of £185m to £205m for the first half of the financial year, and expects to use £1.2bn if it’s grounded for three months, £2.2bn for a six-month grounding and £3bn for a nine-month grounding.

It told City A.M.: “Given the possibility of a prolonged grounding easyJet will continue to consider further liquidity and funding options.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in