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EasyJet Sells Planes to Survive the Coronavirus Epidemic
Meg Butler April 17, 2020
Britain’s largest budget carrier has just announced its plans to survive the mass grounding of planes caused by the coronavirus: sell planes to leasing firms.
A Cash Influx
EasyJet just boosted its cash reserves by borrowing around $500 million (£ 400 million) against its fleet. These funds, combined with other steps that EasyJet has already taken, will give the airline enough cash flow to stay liquid for at least nine months. With these steps, EasyJet’s cash balance is around 3.3 billion GBP.
More Planes
While EasyJet waits for air travel to rebound, CEO Johan Lundgren has announced, it will not cancel its orders for new planes. It will postpone those deliveries and their accompanying cash payments. This is designed to help EasyJet bounce back quickly. “Myself and the team and the board,” said Lundgren during a conference call,” we are absolutely focused on managing through these times. This is one of the worst crises that aviation has ever seen.”
Easyjet beats any USA airline in about every aspect of air travel. The quality of the planes, the staff and service alone beats anything I have had to endure flying in USA. As a One World Emerald I choose when in Europe not to fly BA or Iberia as they dont come close to Easyjet.I assume the post by @rylan is based on internet experience only.
@rylan Now there is a positive person. Not all LCC are garbage and they will certainly be up and running as soon as the Green Light is given. Some are crap but Easyjet certainly is not one of them
@rylan Which legacy carrier do you work for?
@rylan Easyjet is considered one of Europe's best LCCs, would be a shame if they go bust. However, don't really agree with your analysis either. Carriers like easyjet, wizzair and ryanair create their own demand by selling tickets cheap. Now that the oil prices are low, there's nothing stopping them to go crazy with these ticket prices. Legacy carriers will suffer more, as I expect business-related travel to suffer for a longer period of time.
Unfortunately its going to take more than 9 months for air travel to come back, especially for those garbage low cost airlines. Its likely a good thing that some of the really crappy ones don't make it.