EASYJET are grounding the majority of their fleet next week until further notice.
The low-cost airline is the latest to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Repatriation flights would continue until March 23, with most of the aircraft grounded by March 24.
Ryanair announced earlier this week that they would be grounding their entire fleet on March 24 also.
EasyJet said they would be operating a “minimal schedule of essential services” with a maximum of 10 per cent capacity and would review the schedule on a weekly basis.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet CEO, said: “These are unprecedented times for the airline industry. We know how important it is for customers to get home and so are continuing to operate rescue flights over the coming days to repatriate them.
“Significantly reducing our flying programme is the right thing to do when many countries have issued advice to their citizens not to travel unless it is essential and the aircraft groundings will also remove significant levels of variable costs at a time when this remains crucial.”
HOAR previously revealed easyJet’s pilots yesterday turned down the airline’s bid to tear up their contracts and adopt a ‘coronavirus cooperation agreement’.
The no-frills airline wanted crew and pilots to take three months unpaid leave as up to 3,000 staff face losing their jobs.
Desperate airlines and travel firms are asking for government financial help as global travel grinds to a halt.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are reducing capacity by 75 per cent in April and May while Norwegian and US airlines such as Delta and American Airlines massively reduce their services.
Ryanair staff including CEO Michael O’Leary are to take a 50 per cent pay cut doe to the current pandemic.
The fleet could also be grounded for three months, he warned, due to the unprecedented crisis.
UK airports could all be closed in a matter of weeks.
