EasyJet cuts half year losses
EasyJet reduced its losses during the first half of the year by £41m to £112m, despite an £87m rise in its fuel bill.
The airline said the results issued today were better than expected due to "careful allocation of capacity, revenue initiatives and tight cost controls".
EasyJet also conceded it had been helped by the fact that there was little disruption to its flights in winter 2011/12 compared with the previous year.
Total revenue per seat grew by 11.9% to £50.47 but costs, excluding fuel, increased by 2.1% to £37.70. Seats flown grew by 3.5% and the average load factor improved by 1.5 percentage points.
A total of 25.2m passengers flew by easyJet in the first six months of the year, a 5.4% increase year on year.
The airline said it had sold almost half its seats for summer, in line with last year. Chief executive Carolyn McCall said: "In the first six months of the year easyJet has continued to deliver improvements in customer satisfaction, operational, and financial performance. We have also returned £196 million to our shareholders.
The economic environment remains uncertain, and the aviation industry faces headwinds such as the recent increase in UK APD. However, easyJet’s strategy of low fares and our focus on making it easy for our customers, aligned with tight cost management and strictly managed allocation of capital, ensures that easyJet is well positioned to deliver good results for shareholders."
The airline ended the period with £42m of net cash after paying a £150m special dividend in March on top of a £46m ordinary dividend.
By Linsey McNeill
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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