Low cost-carrier easyJet will resume flights on just two routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport starting in June – but passengers will have to wear masks. Tony McDonough reports
Low-cost airline easyJet is to resume flights to Belfast and the Isle of Man from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA).
The carrier said it was restarting a small number of mainly domestic flights at 22 European Airports, including LJLA, on June 15. It is also introducing new measures including enhanced aircraft cleaning and disinfection and a requirement for passengers and crew to wear masks.
Europe’s aviation sector has pretty much ground to a halt during the coronavirus crisis but now, with several countries including the UK starting to ease lockdown restrictions, airlines are ready to resume services.
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EasyJet will will be operating from Liverpool, London Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Belfast, and Isle of Man in the UK. In normal times easyJet operates more than 30 routes from Liverpool.
In addition, flying will resume in France from Nice, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon and Lille, as well as from Geneva in Switzerland, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain.
The airline expects to increase flying as customer demand continues to build and restrictions are relaxed. During the lockdown period the fleet has been grounded the aircraft have been maintained in a flight ready condition to enable the airline to resume flights quickly at the right time.
As well as enhanced aircraft disinfection for easyJet aircraft, customers, cabin and ground crew will be required to wear masks. There will also initially be no food service onboard flights, all of which operate on a short-haul network.
Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet, said: “I am really pleased that we will be returning to some flying in the middle of June. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to resume operations.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that when more restrictions are lifted the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want to fly.”
To protect customers and ground crew in the airport, customers will be able to use easyJet’s automated bag drop to check in their hold luggage and screens will be in place at check-in desks and at airports where auto bag drop is not available. Ground crew and cabin will not handle any customer documents during boarding so customers will be asked to present and scan their own documents.