EasyJet's chief operating officer has resigned after a series of flight cancellations and disruption at the airline in recent weeks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62038384

The airline said Peter Bellew had left "to pursue other business opportunities" and wished him well. Is that code for he was pushed?

Sure is code! Another code is "to spend more time with family."

to throw the towel, at this airline, is probably the best thing you can do

Bad news inbound for Easyjet? Or is this a change of direction that Easyjet needs?

Easyjet a few years ago had really good reliability and punctuality. If the airline sold you a ticket, you didn't really have to worry... you might see a minor delay (eg 20 mins) but that was it.

In the last few months, that status has been absent. Most people simply don't want to spend hours repeatedly arguing over whether an EU261 claim should see a payout or not, especially when there is a perception airlines play dirty tricks to block payouts.

Easyjet need to get that status back. Urgently.

My only question was why was this guy not sacked sooner. He was totally incompetent and has single handedly brought the airline to its knees. S22 pretty much a disaster hopefully they can go on now and fix the mess he has left.

I agree Covid has not exactly helped. However, consider a series of heavy snow in a country in a week. The airports with ample snowploughs recovers quickly, while the airport that decided to save budget cash and not bother with snowploughs sees operations go badly wrong.

All airlines have had the same info on Covid - or could have hired a consultant virologist if they wanted better info. In spring 2020, Stansted was hit just as badly as Gatwick. Stansted as Ryanair's largest base anywhere has had adverts to hire staff all over the terminal for months - earlier in the spring they had 500+ unfilled job vacancies - STN was seriously short staffed. I still don't see why Ryanair and Jet2, both with very heavy dependence on the UK, have been able to handle 2022 far better than Easyjet... unless Easyjet were doing something badly wrong in the last 12 months - like poor operational planning for which Peter Belew was responsible.

For the record, I think the head of ops, and possibly also the CEO, at Amsterdam definitely deserves to be fired - they should be retained until September 2022 only in case they can help minimise the effects of the mess.

davidjohnson6 wrote:

Easyjet a few years ago had really good reliability and punctuality. If the airline sold you a ticket, you didn't really have to worry... you might see a minor delay (eg 20 mins) but that was it.

In the last few months, that status has been absent. Most people simply don't want to spend hours repeatedly arguing over whether an EU261 claim should see a payout or not, especially when there is a perception airlines play dirty tricks to block payouts.

Easyjet need to get that status back. Urgently.

EasyJet of 2008/2009 was similar to now, in complete disarray, constant delays and cancellations - had a terrible reputation. Carolyn McCall managed to turn that around. A new leadership team is needed, urgently.

LuxuryTravelled wrote:

davidjohnson6 wrote:

Easyjet a few years ago had really good reliability and punctuality. If the airline sold you a ticket, you didn't really have to worry... you might see a minor delay (eg 20 mins) but that was it.

In the last few months, that status has been absent. Most people simply don't want to spend hours repeatedly arguing over whether an EU261 claim should see a payout or not, especially when there is a perception airlines play dirty tricks to block payouts.

Easyjet need to get that status back. Urgently.

EasyJet of 2008/2009 was similar to now, in complete disarray, constant delays and cancellations - had a terrible reputation. Carolyn McCall managed to turn that around. A new leadership team is needed, urgently.

The Financial Times have an article saying why it’s time for Lundgren to go, sadly it’s behind a payroll but I think it’s a case of watch this space. There’s only so much the shareholders will tolerate (and I wonder if stelios will become vocal again)

He was probably sacked. Within EasyJet he was the Trojan horse from Ryanair anyways. He destroyed what Carolyn McCall build. Lundgren will be next , he is as useless and harmful for EasyJet and it’s reputation as Bellew. easyJet needs a new Carolyn McCall to be able to survive. And a lot of senior and middle management need to leave too. Such a useless management. No wonder the stock price is bottom low. Please Carolyn , come back !!!!!

Delta777Jet wrote:

He was probably sacked. Within EasyJet he was the Trojan horse from Ryanair anyways. He destroyed what Carolyn McCall build. Lundgren will be next , he is as useless and harmful for EasyJet and it’s reputation as Bellew. easyJet needs a new Carolyn McCall to be able to survive. And a lot of senior and middle management need to leave too. Such a useless management. No wonder the stock price is bottom low. Please Carolyn , come back !!!!!

Absolutely agree - Johan was a bad decision. Bring back Carolyn!

I think easyJet has a market. In many european countries it is the perfect choice between the more costly local national carrier and the bare bones alternative Ryanair. They used to be reliable but now they are not anymore. I hope they return to normal soon.

f4f3a wrote:

My only question was why was this guy not sacked sooner. He was totally incompetent and has single handedly brought the airline to its knees. S22 pretty much a disaster hopefully they can go on now and fix the mess he has left.

That's not really fair. You're putting the blame for U2's scheduling and performance woes solely at Mr Bellew's feet ("single-handedly"). Yes, he is ultimately responsible for the performance of the airline, but that's ignoring the fact that there's been some pretty huge external factors that are impacting all airlines' performances, none of which Mr Bellew, or any airline COO, has any control over (war in Ukraine, fuel price hikes, cost of living crisis, Brexit, post-pandemic surge in demand, etc.) We can judge his reaction to these factors, of course, but given that all airlines are suffering... I'm not saying U2 were wrong to remove him, I'm just pointing out a lot of the problems he faced were not within his control. Your use of "single-handedly" is just not fair, nor is it true.

Ultimately, though, to get out of this mess, airlines and airports are going to have to pay up and start paying staff decent wages if they want to recruit and keep the staff they need. I was told a very eye-opening story a couple of weeks ago - this apparently happened in early June. Gatwick had recruited some desperately needed frontline security staff. They had been hired, screened, signed contracts, attended and passed the required training and issued IDs. On the day they were due to start their first shift in early June, five of them met at Starbucks for a pre-shift coffee. While there, they noticed a huge sign that indicated Starbucks were hiring - and offering not only a higher hourly rate, a £500 sign up bonus, too. The five joined Starbucks instead, and didn't even start their security jobs.

https://findajob.dwp.gov.uk/details/9587896

It's pretty messed up if you get paid a higher salary for serving coffee than you do for being responsible for screening airline passengers.

A lot of the workforce pay ends up at service providing agencies that keep a share. If people would be hired permanently again like in the old days they could take home a higher share of their pay without airports paying that much more.

As for Bellew at EasyJet. He was the COO so in charge for the operations. Because of him the moral of the crew is at an all time low. All of my friends at EasyJet are relieved of the departure of Bellew. Johann it’s next to go. He brought Bellew into EasyJet and his incompetence let EasyJet have massive cancellations , strikes , lack of crew, horrible decisions for example moving to Swissport at all airports without Swissport having the manpower to handle all EasyJet flights . And on and on and on. It’s a massive Missmanagement going on at EasyJet , hopefully the next CEO and COO will turn the rudder to a better future for EasyJet.

Pb came in and cut no crew per plane against advise . Cut sby cover. ground handling cut pretty much everything. The only reason there pilots are due balpa etc absorbing fte cuts by going part time. He wanted to get rid of 1/3 despite furlough. Yes it is v fair to put all blame on him. His decisions caused this mess. Just like a lot of airlines suffering now the senior management used covid to turn the screw and now they have no one to crew the operation. I think Johan will be next when someone suitable can be found. A strong leadership is needed to recover the brands reputation and survive .