easyjet shares (LON:EZJ) rose sharply on Thursday as the budget airlines announced plans to commence flights from 15th June.
easyJet shares rose over 6% in midmorning trade on Thursday.
The service will be limited with flights revolving around a number of airports in the UK and France initially, with plan to expand the service as more European governments ease restrictions.
The COVID-19 lockdown has ravaged the European airline industry and governments are under pressure to step in and help prevent major airlines collapse.
The German government is exploring what would be a remarkable step to bailout of Lufthansa and take stake in the company whilst AirFrance has sought help from both the French and Dutch governments.
Government support has it’s critics and the Ryanair CEO said government bailouts would distort the market.
Nonetheless, the resumption of flights will be a lifeline for easyJet who will soon be facing the repercussions of a sophisticated cyber attack that compromised the personal details of 9 million people. However, easyJet said there hadn’t been any evidence of wrongdoing with the details.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet CEO commented on the resumption of flights:
“I am really pleased that we will be returning to flying in the middle of June. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to gradually resume operations. We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that when more restrictions are lifted the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand, while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers remains our highest priority, which is why we are implementing a number of measures to enhance safety at each part of the journey, from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks. These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”