For the three months to June 30 the carrier, which operates more than 30 routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport, said total revenues were up 11.4% to £1.76bn. Tony McDonough reports

Low-cost airline easyJet saw a significant rise in revenues and passenger numbers for the second quarter of 2019, easing it worries over Brexit and softening consumer demand.

For the three months to June 30 the carrier, which operates more than 30 routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport, said total revenues were up 11.4% to £1.76bn with passenger revenue rising 10.7% to £1.39bn and ancillary revenue increasing by 14.3% to £374m.

Passenger numbers in the quarter increased by 8% to 26.4m, driven by an increase in capacity of 10% to 28.8m seats. Load factor (percentage of seats filled) decreased, as anticipated, by 1.7 percentage points to 91.7%, due to late yield initiatives as well as high prior year comparatives due to industrial action in France and Monarch’s bankruptcy.

Easyjet has also improved its punctuality, experiencing 847 cancellations in Q2 2019 compared to 2,606 cancellations in Q2 2018, while delays of greater than three hours decreased by 32% compared to Q2 2018.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren, said: “easyJet’s third quarter performance was robust and despite the tougher macroeconomic conditions was in line with expectations.

“Revenue increased by over 11% with RPS increasing through a combination of successful revenue initiatives, a solid Easter performance and a focus on late yield initiatives, with passenger numbers climbing by two million to over 26m.

“Our customers experienced significantly reduced cancellations and long delays largely as a result of our investment in operational resilience, which also contributed significantly to driving down cost per seat ex fuel at constant currency by 4% in the period.”