Last checked at 
* To cut staff numbers by 30%
* To shrink fleet to 302
* Shares rise 6%
(Adds share price, CEO, analyst comment)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - Britain's easyJet plans
to cut up to 4,500 jobs and shrink its fleet to adjust to the
smaller travel market which is forecast to emerge from the
coronavirus crisis.
EasyJet, which employs more than 15,000 people in eight
countries across Europe, is moving later than others in
announcing job cuts as a result of the coronavirus pandemic,
which has brought airlines across the world to their knees.
Most have been forced to cut jobs, including more than
15,000 in Britain, as they prepare for a market which is not
forecast to return to 2019 levels until 2023.
EasyJet, which said on Thursday it would launch a
consultation process with staff, also plans to shrink its fleet
by 15% to 302 planes by the end of 2021 and to cut costs through
deals with airports, maintenance suppliers and in marketing.
Shares in easyJet rose 6% to 751 pence, their highest level
since mid-March, before coronavirus grounded its fleet.
"Exactly the kind of overhaul the cost base needs,"
Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska said of easyJet's cuts, which go
deeper than those of Ryanair and Wizz Air, who
have said they will lay off 15% and 19% of staff respectively.
EasyJet said it expects to be flying around 30% of its
capacity by the fourth quarter, which leaves it trailing Ryanair
which is planning to fly 40% in July.
"The leverage to growing market share over the next two
years seems to rest with Ryanair and Wizz, who see their cost
bases as allowing them to exploit this crisis," Goodbody analyst
Mark Simpson said.
EasyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said that job cuts
would ensure easyJet emerges as "a more competitive business".
Around 8,000 of its staff are based in Britain.
Lundgren told reporters that easyJet was talking to the
British government about a 14-day quarantine rule which airlines
say will further stifle any travel recovery.
Over the last six weeks easyJet has also been grappling with
an attempt by its biggest shareholder to oust its senior bosses,
and the fallout from a cyber attack.
It said talks with lessors interested in acquiring aircraft
on a sale and leaseback basis are ongoing and proceeds would now
be 500 million pounds to 650 million pounds ($798 million),
around 25% higher than expected in April.
($1 = 0.8151 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton, Guy
Faulconbridge and Alexander Smith)
