Easyjet delays delivery of 24 new Airbus planes for at least five years as the budget airline resumes flights

The Luton-based airline announced two months ago that it had deferred the order for the aircraft beyond 2022 as it was battling the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic that had brought the industry to a halt. He subsequently initiated a shareholder revolt which tried, but failed, to get rid of four senior company officials including the chief executive over the order. Despite surviving the confidence vote, chief financial officer Andrew Findlay declared he would leave the airline in 2021. Yesterday, the airline resumed its first domestic flights since March 30, after the plummeting demand for air travel in the preceding weeks forced it to postpone operations. Chief executive Johan Lundgren told the PA news agency that he would 'feel 100 per cent safe' flying on a packed plane. 'We would hope and would be really looking forward to restrictions being either lifted, or air bridges put in place where it made sense to do so, allowing UK customers as well as people in the rest of Europe to be able to go on a holiday.' British Airways is expecting to slash up to 12,000 jobs while Virgin Atlantic has said over 3,000 employees will be made redundant.  Shares in EasyJet were up 8.6 per cent soon after midday today to 833.9p.