EasyJet to remove seats from planes to tackle staff shortages

The budget airline hopes to cut the number of crew members needed on flights from four to three

EasyJet airplanes are parked on the tarmac during the official opening of the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport "Willy Brandt" in Schoenefeld, near Berlin, on October 31, 2020. Reuters

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

The number of crew needed on flights is dictated by the number of passengers flying and is set by the Civil Aviation Authority.

By removing the back row of seats on its A319 planes, the budget airline will limit the number of passengers onboard to 150, which requires three crew members instead of four.

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

“This summer we will be operating our UK A319 fleet with a maximum of 150 passengers onboard and three crew in line with CAA regulations,” the airline said.

“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.”

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  AirlineRatings.com has released its 2022 top 10 of the world's safest low-cost airlines. First on the alphabetical list is Air Arabia, the first budget carrier in the UAE.

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  A Thai Air Asia Airbus A320-200 plane at Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok. Reuters

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  An airBaltic Airbus A220-300 at Munich International Airport

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  Incident records, crash records and fleet age were among the factors used to compile the list. UK operator easyJet has 31 planes in a fleet that flies throughout Europe. AFP

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  flydubai operates to more than 90 destinations from its Dubai hub. Jeff Topping for The National

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  Singapore Airlines' low-cost subsidiary Scoot Airlines ranks in the top 20. Getty Images

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  Southwest is the world's largest low-cost airline. AP

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  India's SpiceJet flies to 64 destinations, including 52 domestic and 12 international routes. EPA

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  Canada's WestJet airlines operates more than 700 North American flights a day, carrying more than 66,000 passengers. AFP

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  Wizz Air, a Hungarian airline that flies to 44 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and that has a subsidiary in the UAE, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, rounded the original top 10 list and is one of the world's safest budget airlines. AFP

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. It operated at 80 per cent of 2019 capacity in the first three months of this year.