EasyJet today insisted that almost three quarters of passengers affected by a raft of flight cancellations were moved with alternative departures within 24 hours.
The disclosure came as the UK budget carrier revealed disruption costs of £133 million in the three months to June 30. This led to a quarterly pre-tax loss of £114 million against £318 million in the same period last year despite in-house operator easyJet holidays achieving a record profit.
The result came as the airline flew 22 million passengers – more than seven times higher than the same quarter last year. This represented 87% of pre-pandemic 2019 capacity.
EasyJet holidays generated a profit of £16 million in the quarter as it carried 400,000 customers, passing its previous highest profit of £10 million in a full year. The holidays business remains on track to carry 1.1 million passengers in the full year.
“The unprecedented ramp up across the aviation industry, coupled with a tight labour market, has resulted in widespread operational challenges culminating in higher levels of cancellations than normal,” easyJet admitted.
Despite this, the carrier operated 95% of its planned schedule in its third quarter ahead of the summer peak.
The carrier said it “remains focused on ensuring smooth operations this summer and will continue to fine tune our schedule if required”.
EasyJet added: “As previously disclosed, proactive action was taken to build in additional resilience including the consolidation of capacity in Q3 and Q4, in conjunction with other measures.
“Given easyJet’s high frequency network, over 70% of affected customers were moved onto an alternate flight within 24 hours.
“We believe that these capacity/cost impacts are a one-off this summer as we would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for 2023 peak periods.”
This summer’s peak three months is 71% booked, with a load factor slightly ahead of 2019 and ticket yield 13% above 2019 levels.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “Delivering for customers this summer remains our highest priority. During the quarter we carried seven times more customers than the same time last year and operated 95% of our schedule.
“We have taken action to build the additional resilience needed this summer and the operation has now normalised.
“Despite the loss this quarter due to the short-term disruption issues, the return to flying at scale has demonstrated that the strategic initiatives launched during the pandemic are delivering now and with more to come.
“This includes a step-change in ancillary yields, increasing 55% versus the same period in 2019, and a record profit of £16 million generated in the quarter by easyJet holidays which is on track to serve 1.1 million customers in the full year.
“EasyJet expects capacity to be c.90% of Q4 ’19 across our network of major European airports, with load factors targeted above 90%.”