The low-cost airline Easyjet laid off many employees in two waves at the Berlin-Brandenburg location even before the announcement that the base was to be significantly reduced. The responsible state labor court has now overturned those dismissals that were pronounced during the pandemic.

For legal reasons, the complaints of the employees cannot be conducted as a "collective procedure", but are negotiated individually. In numerous cases, the regional labor court overturned the dismissals pronounced during the second wave. Among other things, the court announced that it was of the opinion that significantly more jobs were cut than would have been necessary for the reduced number of commercial aircraft stationed at BER.

With this reasoning, the state labor court should not be far from reality, because Easyjet had to leave before the start of the summer holidays many flights canceled due to staff shortages. At times, the situation at the airport was chaotic, because although the carrier had made precautionary cuts, many other connections had to be canceled on the departure days. The 2022 summer flight schedule was abbreviated in several steps.

Easyjet has cut around 450 jobs at the Berlin-Brandenburg location since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The first wave of layoffs was completed in 2020. Another 103 employees were laid off in spring and summer 2021. The current proceedings relate to the latter period. According to the regional labor court, the company issued so-called redundancies for operational reasons. In numerous cases these were overturned.

The fleet stationed at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport was reduced in several steps from 34 to currently 18 aircraft. The presence at this airport will be reduced even further in the fall, because Easyjet is planning with even fewer aircraft and as a result they want to separate from other employees. As a reason for the procedure, the company states, among other things, that the airport fees at BER are very high and that the machines can be used more profitably from other airports.

The first wave of layoffs was decided by the labor court mostly in favor of Easyjet. In the second, on the other hand, the chambers of the regional labor court decide more for the employees and collect numerous dismissals. Although an appeal is not permitted, the parties have the option of filing a so-called non-admission complaint. Most judgments are therefore not yet final. Numerous others are still pending.