(video interview) Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Easyjet Monday 6 September published its figures for August, showing a healthy increase of 8.4 percent compared to August 2009: more than 5.2 million passengers. The upbeat numbers follow close on the heels of a series of critical media headlines in recent weeks because of the number of flights delayed or cancelled.
The company’s Swiss CEO, Jean-Marc Thevenaz, talking to Swiss television station TSR Sunday, apologized for the company’s poor arrival time record in recent weeks. “We are taking measures—we are to some extent a victim of our own success,” he says, with flights 90 percent full from Geneva. Easyjet says it accounts for 50 percent of Cointrin airport’s passengers, and its high number of flights and their frequency has aggravated a situation sparked by “an exceptional year”. Thevenaz says that for the past 15 years the company has had to cope with, on average, eight days a year of problems caused by strikes or bad weather. In the first eight months of 2010 that number has been 48 days, with a winter with an unusual amount of snow in Geneva, followed by the volcanic ash cloud problems.
He told TSR that 700,000 passengers were affected by weather problems alone, “and the company isn’t equipped to deal with that.” It’s not a question of whether or not the low-cost model is still working, he says, pointing to the company’s continuing growth, “but of adapting to the situation.” He notes that the company clearly has a problem with customer confidence as a result of the delays and cancellations. It is adding a large number of new staff and has added planes that can be used as backups in case of delays. But it takes several weeks to catch up with time lost, he notes, sorting out overtime put in by staff, among other issues.
We absolutely must work on the problem of client confidence.”
TSR video interview with Easyjet Suisse boss jean-Marc Thevenaz (French)