Low-cost carrier Easyjet (U2/EZY) has ended based flights at London Stansted (STN/EGSS) and London Southend (SEN/EGMC) as it closes its bases at the two airports.
The last flight arrived into Southend on Sunday night while a few flights, operated by aircraft based elsewhere, will continue to serve Stansted including Belfast, Edinburgh and Amsterdam.
The base at Newcastle (NCL/EGNT) is also closing but like Stansted, a handful of inbound flights will continue operate.
The base closures come as the carrier looks to reduce costs as the air travel industry continues to be ravaged by the Coronavirus pandemic.
When the base closures were announced Easyjet chief executive officer Johan Lundgren said: “We have had to take the very difficult decision to close three UK bases as a result of the unprecedented impact of the pandemic and related travel restrictions, compounded by quarantine measures in the UK which is impacting demand for travel.
“Working closely with our employee representatives, I am pleased that we have been able to identify ways to significantly reduce the number of proposed compulsory redundancies through providing enhanced voluntary redundancy packages for all UK crew alongside additional options like part time and seasonal contracts, base transfers and unpaid leave which we expect to result in reducing the number of job losses overall.
“We would like to reassure customers due to fly from these airports that we are now contacting anyone whose flight is affected with clear advice on their options which include rerouting via alternative airports or receiving a full refund.”
The airline said the jobs of around 93% of its staff at these bases were at risk with many taking voluntary redundancy, There was also a large number of compulsory redundancies.
