EasyJet reported strong summer booking momentum after cutting winter seasonal losses by around £120 million.
The UK budget carrier’s in-house tour operator easyJet holidays is 88% sold for the summer after upgrading its year-on-year growth expectations from 50% to 60%.
In a trading update for the six months to March 31, the airline forecast profits for the full final financial year to exceed market expectations of £260 million based on current high levels of demand and strong bookings.
The projection came “whilst we remain mindful of the uncertain macroeconomic outlook across the globe,” the carrier said.
EasyJet saw “robust” Easter operations with around 1,600 flights a day with 99.8% operated despite the impact of French air traffic control strikes.
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Capacity for the peak summer three months is forecast to exceed pre-pandemic levels by 8% with around 56 million seats available for the second half of the airline’s financial year between April and September.
The headline pre-tax loss for the winter first half is expected to be between £405 million and £425 million against £545 million a year earlier “despite challenges from elevated fuel prices, market wide inflation and costs associated with building resilience into the operation ahead of summer 2023”.
Capacity has been ramped up, growing 40% from January to March.
EasyJet flew 17.7 million seats in the three months to March 31, up from 14.8 million in the same period last year “due to increased customer demand coupled with restriction-free travel”.
Passenger numbers in the quarter increased to 15.6 million from 11.5 million.
“This growth will continue into peak summer where easyJet will be back to around pre-pandemic levels of capacity, with the network seeing growth of around 8% when excluding the Berlin rightsizing,” the airline said in a statement.
“EasyJet is fully resourced ahead of this ramp up after successfully completing its largest ever crew onboarding campaign. The attractiveness of easyJet’s brand continues to be a differentiator, with applications received being over 8 times the number of roles recruited.
“Easter demand has been strong with around 1,600 flights operating on average per day with robust operational performance achieved.
“Capacity over Easter, in the UK, was back around pre pandemic levels, with strong demand and positive yield growth compared to Easter 2019.
“Disruption from French ATC strikes continued to be seen through April, though easyJet’s investment into resilience will help mitigate its impact.”
The carrier added: “Pricing remained strong during the first half for both ticket and ancillary revenue, demonstrating the continued success of easyJet’s network optimisation and ancillary products.”
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “Demand for easyJet’s flights and holidays has continued to grow in the half, resulting in more than a £120 million pound improvement in our performance as well as a billion pound revenue improvement year on year.
“This is further enhanced by our transformed network of popular destinations and improved revenue capability.
“We see continued strong booking momentum into summer as customers prioritise spending on travel and choose airlines like easyJet offering the best value and destination mix, as well as easyJet holidays which is continuing its steep growth trajectory as the fastest growing holidays company in the UK.
“All of this means easyJet expects to outperform FY23 market expectations.”
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