A number of smaller airlines are in danger of going out of business this winter, the boss of EasyJet has warned, as the traditional quiet travel months heap more difficulty upon them after a slow recovery from forced cancellations during the Covid period.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “For a number of airlines it looks pretty bad and if you’re coming into a difficult period right now, there are going to be some airlines which will have a very tricky situation ahead of them.”
“I would have thought there were going to be more failures than mergers and takeovers this year,” he said.
Romania’s Blue Air has already suspended flights this month while it talks to lenders, the Romanian government and potential investors over restructuring its finances. The carrier has a debt mountain of around €230m.
When asked, by Travel Weekly, if he has any idea which other airlines are vulnerable, Mr Lundgren replied: “Yes, but I’m not going to tell you.”
Mr Lundgren said EasyJet remains one of the “least indebted airlines” and “one of the few that has an investment-grade credit rating”.
Nonetheless, even the strongest airlines have been battered – EasyJet had to raise more than £5.5bn in refinancing, which involved tapping investors for more money and increasing its debt, after being grounded for 11-weeks during the UK’s first Covid lockdown in 2020.
