EasyJet reports bookings and yields for its key summer season are trending higher year on year, after its losses during the October-December quarter were exacerbated by the Israel-Hamas war.
Reporting its earnings for its fiscal first quarter on 24 January, the UK-based low-cost carrier says conflict in the Middle East had a direct impact on earnings of around £40 million ($51 million), alongside “further indirect impacts”, including from a “temporary slowdown in flight bookings for the wider industry”.
The war prompted EasyJet to suspend flights to Israel and Jordan – a suspension that remains in place today.
EasyJet notes, however, that demand and bookings have “recovered strongly” since late November, and that its headline loss before tax for the October-December period of £126 million was still down slightly year on year amid “strong underlying trends”.
Group revenue was some 22% higher year on year, at £1.8 billion, on a 3% rise in revenue per seat.
The carrier flew 23 million seats in the quarter, up from 20.2 million a year ago, with its operating fleet peaking at 317 aircraft in October. Load factor during the quarter fell by a single percentage point to 86%.
The carrier also cites a strong performance from its holidays business, which delivered a £30 million profit in the fiscal first quarter on customer numbers up 48%.
Its expects the group’s fiscal first-half loss – covering the seasonally weakest October-March period – to also fall year on year, with revenue per seat “up by mid-single digits” in the second quarter.
“This improvement comes as a result of disciplined capacity growth where demand is strongest, alongside productivity benefits,” EasyJet states.
The carrier forecasts that its cost per seat excluding fuel will be “broadly flat” in the fiscal first half, while fuel costs are expected to be around 7% higher.
Looking further into the year, bookings for summer 2024 “are building well, with the turn-of-the-year bookings period showing an increase in both volume and pricing compared to the same period last year”, EasyJet states.
EasyJet says it expects capacity growth of around 9% for the full fiscal year, aided by the arrival of 16 new aircraft across the 12 months.
