EasyJet capacity boost
EasyJet will increase its capacity by around 6% in the 2018 financial year despite a 17% fall in its 2017 pre-tax profit to £408 million
Revenue was up 8% to £5 billion, passenger numbers rose almost 10% to a record 80.2 million and the airline’s load factor was its highest ever at 92.6%, but adverse currency movements wiped £101 million off its earnings for the 12 months to the end of September.
Outgoing chief executive Carolyn McCall, who is leaving to join ITV at the end of the month, said forward bookings are ahead of last year at 88% for the first quarter and 26% for the second.
Revenue trends in the first quarter have also been ‘encouraging’, said McCall, largely as a result of capacity being taken out of the market due to Monarch and Air Berlin’s failures and capacity cuts by its largest rival Ryanair.
EasyJet has recently agreed to buy 25 of Air Berlin’s aircraft in a deal which will see it become the largest airline at the city’s Tegel airport. It expects to incur headline losses of around £60 million at Tegel in the 2018 financial year.
McCall said: "Our planned approach of achieving number one or two positions at Europe’s leading airports, friendly and efficient customer service and a continuous focus on sustainable cost control has put easyJet at a strategic advantage during a period when there have been bankruptcies and some airlines have struggled operationally.
"EasyJet’s model is resilient and sustainable and we now have a huge amount of positive momentum which will enable the airline to continue to grow profitably."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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