EasyJet narrows losses as airline enters summer ‘with confidence’

EasyJet on Thursday said it expected to return to operating at pre-pandemic capacity for the peak European summer season.

Revenues surged 80 per cent in the first half while strong passenger growth sharply reduced losses in the traditionally quieter winter months, it said.

The outlook from the UK-based low-cost airline confirms the picture painted by other European carriers of a strong post-pandemic resurgence in demand for flights and travellers’ willingness to pay far higher fares.

Pre-tax losses for the six months to March 31 were down by 25 per cent to £415mn compared with the same period last year, while passenger numbers were up by 41 per cent.

Load factor — the proportion of available seats sold — improved by 10 percentage points to 87.5 per cent. First-half revenue rose to £2.7bn.

EasyJet’s improved outlook follows a revamp of parts of its network, including a cutting of capacity for flights from Berlin that generated a first-half exceptional loss of £4mn to reflect the cost of surrendering slots at the city’s Brandenburg airport.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren said the airline’s “optimised network”, combined with “strong demand” for flights and holidays, meant easyJet would enter the summer “with confidence”.

EasyJet said revenue per seat in the current April-to-June quarter would be up by more than 20 per cent — a slight upgrade from a previous projection of about 20 per cent.

The airline said it would offer about 56mn seats on flights in the six months to September 30, up 9 per cent from the same half of the previous year. Capacity in the key July-to-September quarter would be around pre-pandemic levels.

EasyJet forecast costs per seat excluding fuel would be “broadly flat” for the six months to September 30.

The company forecast that the recovery would bring forward the delivery date for its existing financial targets.

Among the targets is an annual pre-tax profit contribution of £100mn from its holiday business, which packages accommodation with flights. It projected that the business would produce pre-tax profits of more than £80mn for the year to September 30.

“All of this progress should result in the acceleration in the delivery of our medium-term targets while we continue to also capture the opportunities ahead,” Lundgren said.

Among the initiatives announced on Thursday was a new base for the airline at England’s Birmingham airport, which Lundgren said would create “hundreds of jobs”.