Low-cost airline easyJet hit the headlines at the weekend when it announced it would be removing the back row of seats from its A319 fleet, in order to operate flights on the aircraft with one fewer crew member.
UK legislation dictates that each flight must have “one member of the cabin crew for every 50 or fraction of 50 passenger seats installed in the aircraft.”
The move will reduce capacity on some of the carrier’s planes from 156 to 150 passengers.
It’s just one of the effects of the staff shortages that have hit airlines including easyJet and British Airways this spring, with more issues expected into summer.
Both airlines have cancelled dozens of flights in recent weeks, blaming staff absences and slow recruitment for the problems.
But what other knock-on effects could airline and airport staff shortages have on our spring and summer holidays?
Here’s everything you need to know.
Why is easyJet removing plane seats?
Britain’s biggest budget airline is set to remove six seats (the back row) from its A319 planes ahead of its summer schedule, to enable flights to run with three, rather than four, crew members onboard.
UK legislation dictates that airlines must have one cabin crew member for every 50 passengers on a flight.
An easyJet spokesperson told press: “This summer we will be operating our UK A319 fleet with a maximum of 150 passengers onboard and three crew in line with CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] regulations.
“This is an effective way of operating our fleet while building additional resilience and flexibility into our operation this summer where we expect to be back to near 2019 levels of flying.”
All the affected aircraft are based in the UK, where about 60 of the airline’s 126-strong fleet are located.
Though the carrier did not mention staff shortages, it has attributed recent cancellations to high levels of staff sickness and absences.
The Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder says: “The airline did something similar in the 2000s,…