EasyJet will limit passenger numbers on its Airbus A319s this summer to just 150, freeing up a crew member, amid a staff shortage across the airline. The UK low-cost carrier was forced to cancel hundreds of flights earlier this year following an absence rate that at one point affected a fifth of its staff. This compares with a normal absence rate of 6%. The airline said it could handle up to 14%. "This summer we will be operating our UK A319 fleet with a maximum of 150 passengers on board and three crew in line with CAA regulations," says EasyJet. "This is an effective way of operating our fleet while building additional resilience and flexibility into our operation this summer where we expect to be back to near 2019 levels of flying." The action removes just six seats from the aircraft. Those last six seats would typically be booked in the final days before departure. Given this, EasyJet believes it will not be disruptive for passengers who have already booked and will not result in tickets being cancelled. The airline foresees no impact on its capacity guidance for the summer. It intends to fly around 300,000 passengers per day through the period. Analysis from investment firm Goodbody indicates that EasyJet's A319s are set to fly 32% of departures to end-October, or 104,550 flights, and account for 28% of its 57.4 million seats. "The proposal would take out ~0.6m seats from the schedules, or 1%, but allow EasyJet to deploy the residual 15.6 million seats flown by its A319s that might otherwise have been compromised. A neat solution for both issues," writes analyst Mark Simpson.

China Airlines made a net operating income of NT$3.6 billion ($121 million) for the first quarter ended 31 March, reversing the NT$469 million loss in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue for the quarter came in at NT$37.2 billion, up 34% from NT$27.8 billion, the Taiwanese airline says in a filing with the Taiwan stock exchange. The carrier reported a pre-tax profit from continuing operations of NT$3.55 billion from the loss of NT$1.33 billion in the first three months of 2021. Profit attributable to owners of the parent during the quarter was NT$3.07 billion, versus the NT$1.02 billion loss in the year-ago quarter. Total operating expenses stood at NT$1.87 billion versus NT$2.14 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

Airports across Europe expect delays to increase into the summer because of a chronic shortage of staff, according to industry bodies ACI Europe and the Airport Services Association (ASA). In a joint statement, the organisations warn that "the impossibility of scaling up staffing to the levels required in order to accommodate the surge in passenger traffic" is the key driver behind delays, cancellations, "and more generally a degraded passenger experience at many airports". They highlight that airports and ground handlers are exiting the pandemic with depleted resources, having shed staff in 2020 and 2021. This has been compounded by an extremely tight labour market across the continent which has dragged on airports' efforts to recruit new staff, especially given low pay rates for security and ground handling staff. The organisations assert that "years of liberalisation triggered by the EU Ground Handling Directive have resulted in a downward spiral that has now become both socially and operationally unsustainable", adding: "If low wages and compromised service quality were already a concern pre-pandemic, they are now coming to the fore – impacting the aviation system." Delays bringing new staff on board because of security clearances have contributed to the problems, resulting in lead times of up to 16 weeks between recruitment and actual deployment. The groups cite a new ACI Europe survey showing that two-thirds of Europe's airports expect flight delays to increase going into the summer, while 16% believe that cancellations will rise and 15% predict that flight schedules will have to be modified. They are urging authorities to provide faster security clearance for new staff, and airlines to adapt their schedules to reduce traffic peaks, and for closer dialogue between airports and airlines. In the medium term, the EU's rules on ground handling should be reconsidered with a renewed focus on resilience, they argue. The warnings tally with what airlines themselves expect. IAG on 6 May disclosed plans to pare back summer capacity at Heathrow because of the likelihood of delays on the ground. Lufthansa has said on 5 May that it would hold back capacity partly for the same reason.