Business

Easyjet enjoys strong winter as losses narrow

Losses at EasyJet narrowed in the first half of the year after the budget airline enjoyed one of its best winters.
Losses at EasyJet narrowed in the first half of the year after the budget airline enjoyed one of its best winters. Losses at EasyJet narrowed in the first half of the year after the budget airline enjoyed one of its best winters.

LOSSES at EasyJet narrowed in the first half of the year after the budget airline enjoyed one of its best winters.

The low-cost carrier reported a £68 million pre-tax loss in the six months to March 31, which compares with an £236 million loss in the same period last year.

Headline profit before tax, excluding costs associated with its new operations in Berlin Tegel, came in at £8 million against a £212 million loss last year.

Revenue rose 19.5 per cent to £2.18 billion in the period.

Passenger numbers increased by three million, or 8.8 per cent, to 36.8 million in the period, including 700,000 from Tegel.

The early Easter and "capacity reductions by other airlines" - including the collapse of Monarch and Air Berlin and the winter withdrawal of Ryanair from the UK domestic market - also helped boost the firm's sales performance.

Boss Johan Lundgren said: "EasyJet has delivered an excellent performance reporting a profit of £8 million, one of our best results ever in the winter trading period (excluding the one-off impact of the start-up of our Tegel operation).

"Total revenue was above £2 billion for the first time, up almost 20 per cent year on year. This was driven by a record number of passengers."

Mr Lundgren also revealed plans to introduce a new loyalty programme at the airline.