Easyjet closing Luton call centre

Easyjet and other budget airlines are fighting hard to lure customers

Easyjet is to close its Luton call centre with the loss of 144 jobs.

The budget airline has decided to move the operation to Berlin in Germany and Poznan in Poland to help cut costs.

The firm, which is based in Luton, said it was working with call centre staff and representatives over the plans and would help provide career advice.

The T&G section of Unite, which represents Easyjet workers, said it was "disappointed" that the firm could not have kept the call centre in the UK.

John Street, regional officer for the T&G, said: "We have been having extensive discussions and I think we made sufficient inroads which should have been enough to keep it in the UK."

The company currently employs nearly 1,200 people at Luton Airport. A spokeswoman said the work would be transferred over the next three months.

Expansion outside UK

The call centre operation is being outsourced to an "external European provider".

In August Easyjet said it had seen a drop in its earnings per seat after it had to boost its spending on marketing and UK passenger duty levels increased.

The company said that its revenue per seat was £41.46 in the three months to the end of June, 8% lower than in the same quarter a year earlier.

However, the airline carried more passengers, helping to push total revenues 5.7% higher to £486.5m.

The carrier added that its expansion outside of the UK had helped.