Low cost airline easyJet exceeds forecasts as it reports a pre-tax profit of £203m for the three months to June 30. Tony McDonough reports
Budget airline easyJet is reporting a £203m pre-tax profit for the three months to June 30 compared to a £114m loss for the same period last year.
Earlier this month the carrier announced two new routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Hurghada in Egypt and Lyon in France. The carrier now operates to more than 25 destinations from Liverpool.
Despite disruption caused by strikes this summer easyJet is continuing to benefit from a post-pandemic rebounding in passenger demand.
During the quarter, easyJet flew 26.2m seats, a 5% increase on the 24.9m for the same period last year. Load factor (percentage of seats filled) was 90% with load factor increasing to 91% in June.
However, chief executive Johan Lundgren warned about the impact of limited airspace availability and air traffic control strikes in Europe.
He said: “We are absolutely focused on mitigating the impact of the challenging external environment on our customers and flying them on their well-earned holidays,” he said in a statement.”
On the strikes, he added: “As we speak on a daily basis the situation is stable so it’s difficult to say what will be be going forward. It’s usually down to delays rather than cancellations across European networks.”
Moving into this winter, easyJet is seeing “good booking momentum”, with sold ticket yields and load factors ahead year on year, and planned capacity up over 15% for the December quarter.
READ MORE: Liverpool Airport celebrates 90th birthday
Mr Lundgren added: “Our Q3 performance has been underpinned by strong passenger demand for easyJet’s network and services. We continue to provide great value to customers with around half of easyJet’s fares currently on sale still under £50.
“We are absolutely focused on mitigating the impact of the challenging external environment on our customers and flying them on their well-earned holidays.
“We continue to see good momentum as we move into Q4 where we will be operating over 160,000 flights and expect to deliver another record profit before tax performance.
“This winter we are adding more than 15% capacity and we see bookings ahead of the same period last year.”