27th Jan 2022 11:51
(Alliance News) - easyJet PLC on Thursday reported losses had halved in its first quarter, and it performed in line with expectations despite unexpected travel restrictions.
The Luton, England-based airline said for its first quarter ending December 31, pretax losses were GBP213 million, half of pretax losses of GBP423 million in the previous year. Cashburn also halved year-on-year to GBP450 million from GBP969 million, despite the removal of furlough in most of Europe.
It reported total revenue for its first quarter up nearly fivefold year-on-year to GBP805 million from GBP165 million.
Passenger revenue was multiplied to GBP547 million from GBP118 million. Ancillary revenue was similarly boosted to GBP258 million from GBP47 million. This was primarily driven by increased capacity compared to the previous year, with ancillary revenue per seat up 45% to GBP14.84, as cabin bags and new leisure fare brought in higher returns.
easyJet flew 85,618 flights in the first quarter, up from 23,428 a year prior, seeing passengers jump to 11.9 million from 2.9 million. The airline's load factor improved to 77% from 66%.
The emergence of the Omicron variant and ensuing travel restrictions "paused momentum" somewhat in December, with the effects likely to last into its second quarter.
Looking ahead, January capacity on sale will drop to around 50% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, but will increase to around 67% as the quarter progresses. Its fourth quarter, it currently has capacity on sale at nearly 2019 levels.
"During the pandemic, easyJet has transformed many areas of the business including optimising its network and flexibility and finding sustainable cost savings. This is helping partially offset inflationary pressure, while also step-changing ancillary revenue, which is delivering for us now," said Chief Executive Johan Lundgren.
"We see a strong summer ahead, with pent up demand that will see easyJet returning to near 2019 levels of capacity with UK beach and leisure routes performing particularly well."
easyJet's share price rose by 0.6% to 639.20 pence each in London on Thursday midday.
By Elizabeth Winter; [email protected]
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