Airline giant EasyJet has shared its plans to remove seats on flights to be in line with staff shortages.

By removing seats on the back row of their A319 planes, the company will be able to fly with a smaller amount of crew – going down from four staff to three.

As well as lowering the amount of crew, passenger numbers will also decline to 150.

The Civil Aviation Authority's requirements for the number of crew members needed per flight based on the amount of passengers flying.

In a statement made by easyJet to PA news agency, they described the change as an "effective way" of operating its fleet this summer.

The statement read: "“This summer we will be operating our UK A319 fleet with a maximum of 150 passengers onboard and three crew in line with CAA regulations.

"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.”

Thousands of flights were cancelled by various European airlines due to staff shortages, including easyJet, in the lead-up to Easter.

EasyJet operated at 80% of 2019 capacity in the first three months of this year – but the airlines expects to operate 'near' pre-pandemic levels of flying this summer.

The Chief Executive of EasyJet, Johan Lundgren, has apologised for the cancellations and explained that it was due to the staff shortages over the pandemic.

Johan spoke with Sky News last month and said it was 'too early to tell' how long the disruptions would go on for.

He continued: "That is unfortunate for people who have been affected but I would like to reiterate that those cancellations were made pre-emptively."

The Chief Executive also announced that there were 100 new staff ready to start at easyJet, however they were just awaiting permission from the Department of Travel.

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