EasyJet to continue cutting fares
EasyJet says it will continue to cut fares under pressure from rival budget airlines.
The message came as the carrier revealed a reduced winter loss, down 58% from £40 million to £17 million, on revenues up by 14% to £719 million.
Passenger numbers rose by 11% in the half year to 16.4 million.
Ancillary revenues were up by 18% or £0.58 per seat to £3.81 per seat with partner revenues from insurance and car hire driving the growth.
Chief executive Andy Harrison said: “As we stated last winter, we continue to see pressure on yields in the summer against high comparatives from last year and due to continued competition.
“Low fares underpin our growth and in the second half we have reduced many of our lead-in fares and increased our promotional activity to sustain high load factors in weaker market conditions.
“Our low fares are supported by maintaining focus on ancillary revenues and our cost base.
“We anticipate further progress on unit cost reductions, excluding fuel, in the second half and for the full year we anticipate unit fuel costs to be slightly down year on year.
“Our guidance remains unchanged, for the full year to September 2007 we expect pre-tax profit growth of 40% to 50%.”
He added: “Looking forward, our growth measured in available seats will accelerate during the summer months leading to approximately 15% growth for the full year to September 2007.
The airline’s network now covers 75 airports in 20 countries on nearly 300 routes.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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