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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Sophie McCoid

EasyJet grounds entire fleet over coronavirus pandemic

EasyJet had grounded its entire fleet as a result of coronavirus.

The airline said they have been operating "rescue" flights over the past few days, with the last flight operating last night.

The company said there was no "certainty on the date for restarting commercial flights" but that they would continually evaluate the situation.

EasyJet said in a statement: "As a result of the unprecedented travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of national lockdowns across many European countries, easyJet has, today, fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft.

"Over recent days easyJet has been helping to repatriate customers, having operated more than 650 rescue flights to date, returning home more than 45,000 customers. The last of these rescue flights were operated on Sunday March 29.

"We will continue to work with government bodies to operate additional rescue flights as requested.

"At this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights.

"We will continuously evaluate the situation based on regulations and demand, and will update the market when we have a view."

The company has worked with union Unite to agree two-month furlough arrangements for cabin crew which means that crew will be paid 80% of their average pay through the Government job retention scheme.

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