The chief operating officer (COO) of budget airline easyJet has quit, the carrier has announced.
Peter Bellew has resigned to "pursue other business opportunities", easyJet said, and David Morgan has been appointed to lead the operations function as interim COO.
Mr Morgan has been with easyJet since 2016, including almost a year as interim COO in 2019 when he oversaw operations. He will report directly into chief executive Johan Lundgren.
Mr Lundgren said: “I would like to thank Peter for his hard work and wish him well. Everyone at easyJet remains absolutely focused on delivering a safe and reliable operation this summer.
“I am pleased that operations will be in the very capable hands of David Morgan who can move seamlessly into this role having previously led the operation."
Mr Lundgren said Mr Morgan had "significant experience and deep knowledge" of the business and its operations - and would provide "strong leadership" for the airline this summer.
The news comes amid major disruption at UK airports as a number of airlines, including easyJet, have cancelled summer flights due to staff shortages. The aviation sector was forced to axe thousands of jobs during the pandemic as flights were grounded - and many airports and airlines have since struggled to hire enough new staff to deal with the resurgent demand of air travel.
The disruption looks set to continue this month, according to i newspaper, which has reported Spanish easyJet workers are planning to strike in a dispute over pay.
There are strikes planned on 15-17 July and 29-31 July, with hundreds of workers walking out of Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca airports.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Should the industrial action go ahead, there could be some disruption to our flying programme to and from Malaga, Palma and Barcelona during the strike period but at this stage, easyJet plans to operate its full schedule and we would like to reassure customers that we will do everything possible to minimise any disruption.”
The budget airline said it remained "absolutely focused" on its daily operation and had taken pre-emptive action to "build further resilience" for the summer due to the current operating environment. The airline continues to operate up to 1,700 flights each day and carry up to 250,000 passengers.
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