EasyJet has been criticised for pulling out of Stansted as the airport continues to see massive drops in passengers.

The airport passenger numbers doubled in June from May, but were still down by 97.8 per cent year on year.

The dreadful aviation figures have led to easyJet confirming it is pulling out of Stansted as a base along with Southend – a decision the Unite union has described as “a kick in the teeth” for employees, passengers and vital regional airports.

EasyJet has seven aircraft based at Stansted, with 335 crew.

At Southend, there are 183 crew and four aircraft. And there are three aircraft based in Newcastle, with 157 crew.

It has blamed the cuts on lower demand.

But Unite says that the airline’s decision will threaten the viability of the affected airports and is likely to lead to further job losses.

Unite says the long term future of Southend is particularly unclear as the airport has already seen the closure of the Aer Lingus base, which was operated by Stobart Air.

Unite national officer for civil aviation, Oliver Richardson, said: “This is a kick in the teeth for easyJet employees, workers at the affected airports, their passengers and the communities these bases support.

“Unite has tried everything to persuade easyJet to reverse its decision to close the three bases and to consider other options but the company has remained adamant that they are financially unviable.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, easyJet’s priorities have been wrong; they have sought to pay shareholders dividends, secure a multi-million pound government loan to buy new aircraft, but not to use its cash reserves to defend its own employees’ jobs.

“The decision by the company is heartless and wrong-headed, but these closures demonstrate once again why it is absolutely critical that the government comes forward with a bespoke package of support for the aviation sector which will protect jobs, airports and regional connectivity.

“A continuing failure by the government to provide such assistance will inevitably result in thousands of entirely unnecessary job losses and a much-diminished UK aviation sector in a world where competitor countries are moving to protect theirs.”

Stansted saw 59,176 passengers in June – up from 20,607 in May.

But overall it means the airport saw 98.8 per cent fewer passengers than it did in June 2019.

MAG, which owns Stansted, said at the end of last month that the Government’s new restrictions on travel to Spain was ill thought out.

Commenting on the Government introducing new restrictions on travel to Spain, Charlie Cornish, MAG CEO, said: “The Government is right to respond when infection rates spike in particular regions, as they are in Catalonia. But applying these changes to the whole of Spain is unnecessary and will cause huge disruption for passengers.

“Thousands of British holidaymakers are now faced with quarantine on their return from Spain and its islands, even if they have been in areas with much lower risk levels than the UK.

“For example, the Balearic and Canary Islands have similar infection rates to many other holiday islands, but travel to and from these popular Spanish islands is unnecessarily being restricted because of rates being experienced in parts of its mainland.

“The Government must work quickly to develop a system that is properly risk-based which enables people to continue enjoying holidays in regions with low infections rates, while retaining the flexibility to temporarily restrict travel to areas with rising rates, regardless of the country they are in.

“This will give British holidaymakers, airlines and tour operators the ability to plan their travel with confidence and give the aviation and tourism sectors the best chance of a strong recovery, which in turn will boost the economy and protect jobs.”

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