EasyJet is to resume a very small number of flights between the UK and Nice from 15th June with increased safety measures on board including mandatory wearing of face masks. It will be the first time the airline has taken to the skies since grounding its entire fleet on 30th March.
The airline says there is sufficient customer demand to restart domestic routes in the UK and France. Further routes will be added in the following weeks, as and when passenger demand rises and lockdown measures ease further across Europe.
The airline will resume flights from its main airports in the UK, including London Gatwick, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Belfast International. It will also begin flying again from cities in France, including Nice , Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Lyon, as well as Geneva in Switzerland, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain.
The company will introduce enhanced cleaning and disinfection of its aircraft, make disinfectant wipes and hand sanitiser available on board, and require all passengers and cabin crew, as well as ground crew, to wear masks. There will be no food service onboard, initially.
EasyJet will not, however, block the middle seats in its planes, saying the measures “have been implemented in consultation with aviation authorities” and are in line with government and medical advice.
Irish carrier Ryanair has also announced a resumption of flights, saying it intends to restart 40% of its flights in July, operating almost 1,000 a day, but with only half the number of passengers between July and September than previously forecast.
News of easyJet’s return to the skies comes just days after the Europe-based airline revealed that it had suffered a major cyber attack which captured names, email addresses and travel details of nine million passengers, including 2,200 customers that had their credit card details stolen.
At this stage, there is no evidence of any personal information having been misused, EasyJet saidin a statement.
 
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