![]() ![]() BT has reduced its headcount of 120,000 directly and indirectly employed staff by 3,600 this year, although Jansen says much of this has been achieved by a recruitment freeze. Jansen has focused heavily on cost-cutting to help balance the books at BT, including the mobile operator EE and Openreach, which runs most of the UK’s broadband network, with £2bn targeted by 2025. In July, the government added to the burden with the surprise move to ban the use of Chinese tech firm Huawei’s equipment in the UK’s 5G mobile networks, resulting in a £500m bill to strip it all out. The pandemic has been a double-edged sword for BT, which early on was hit by plunging sports revenues at its pay-TV operation, BT Sport, and its enterprise arm felt the impact of struggling cost-conscious businesses cutting back. Since then BT has had to weather a combination of the impact of the pandemic and crucial government decisions on 5G. Jansen was the first FTSE 100 chief executive to contract Covid back in March, when the UK had reported just 11 deaths and 800 cases. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer Philip Jansen, chief executive, BTįrom catching Covid and handling attacks on engineers to coping with record lockdown broadband traffic, while committing billions to upgrading the nation’s internet and mobile networks, Jansen is juggling a balancing act designed to reignite BT’s share price as the driver of Britain’s digital revolution. Philip Jansen, CEO of BT, points to a focus on the long term in the telecoms industry. Lundgren insists: “We will emerge from this crisis leaner and more efficient, so we are positioned to bounce back quickly when demand returns – and it will return.” Gwyn Topham However, Lundgren says: “Our core strengths remain unaffected by the crisis and in fact will be even more important in the months to come – passengers will choose to travel with companies they trust and, more than ever, will seek value with friendly and reliable service.”ĮasyJet hopes the latest wave of cancellations due to the new strain of Covid-19 identified in the UK are just another bump on the taxiway. Other measures, such as charging for overhead lockers, have highlighted the desperation. EasyJet has burned through its cash at more than £50m a week though refinancing, including a £600m government-backed loan and the renegotiated order for Airbus planes, has given it a sounder financial base than most.Īround a third of the 14,000 pre-Covid staff have been laid off, and its fleet of aircraft is likely to be 10% smaller when leases expire in 2021. The key question has been whether airlines can survive that long. ![]() “Once unlocked, our ability to travel, which people had taken for granted before the pandemic, will be valued and treasured once again.” “The vaccine is the key to unlocking travel,” says Lundgren. The share price, which had rebounded on hopes that the summer season was the start of some normality, deflated again until news of a vaccine reassured investors. Summer saw the UK introducing “travel corridors” to easyJet’s biggest leisure markets before swiftly deciding the likes of Spain should be off limits after all. He remains positive that the situation is temporary: “We know there is huge pent-up demand for travel as we see that every time restrictions are lifted.”Įvery time indeed: although travel restarted in June, restrictions were lifted – and then reimposed – in a manner that caused the industry frustration at the lack of guidance and collective international decision-making. Eight months on, he says 2020 was “the toughest year the aviation and travel industry has ever faced”. Back in April, its entire 337-strong fleet was grounded and Lundgren’s overriding preoccupation was liquidity: how to keep the business afloat with its enormous fixed costs, even when most staff were furloughed.Ī few weeks of lockdown, Lundgren declared then, was already the biggest crisis airlines had ever known. ![]() In one respect, things have improved for easyJet over the course of the pandemic: a few planes, at least, are in the sky. We revisited them to find out how the rest of the year unfolded, and to ask about the lasting impact of Covid-19. ![]()
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