Business

EasyJet in beach holiday boost as profits set to take off

An increase in people taking beach holidays has helped easyJet's quarterly figures
An increase in people taking beach holidays has helped easyJet's quarterly figures An increase in people taking beach holidays has helped easyJet's quarterly figures

BUDGET airline easyJet has raised its annual profits outlook after being buoyed by sun-seekers jetting off on beach holidays.

The Luton-based carrier said it flew 19.1 million passengers in the three months to the end of June, up 6.2 per cent, driven by holidaymakers flying from UK destinations including Belfast International to popular beach routes such as Alicante, Malaga and Faro.

And chief executive Carolyn McCall said with over 77 per cent of its seats now booked for the second half of the year, it expects to hit full-year pre-tax profits of between £620 million and £660 million, compared with £581 million a year ago. The City had forecast a pre-tax profit of £638 million this year.

The airline's load factor - a key industry measure of how full its planes are - also rose 1.3 per cent to 91.7 per cent.

The carrier's strong performance came despite having to cancel 1,463 flights during the period, compared with 648 a year earlier, because of French air traffic control strikes at Easter and a fire at Rome's main airport Flumicino.

This saw sales fall 1 per cent to £1.2 billion during the third quarter, and pushed its revenue per seat down 5.4 per cent to £59.08 per seat, although the drop was better-than-feared.

Ms McCall said: "Our third quarter performance shows that easyJet's strategy continues to deliver, in particular with good performance in the UK and beach routes across Europe."

The airline said it delivered £7 million of savings in the quarter, making £28 million in the year so far. It added it was on track to make savings at the top end of the £30 million to £40 million range it has previously given.

EasyJet - which has been flying from Belfast International since September 1998 and operates to 26 destinations - is increasing the number of flights on its four-month winter schedule (October-February) from Aldergrove.

That will bring the number of seats for sale on London routes Gatwick, Luton and Stansted to more than 500,000 by the end of next February. It will also add capacity to Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, bringing the total there to 160,000 seats.