LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s easyJet said it had outperformed its first-half expectations despite the challenges of COVID-19 and rising fuel prices, with capacity ramping up to reach 80% of pre-pandemic levels in March and a recovery in demand.
The low-cost carrier, which has been hit by staff shortages, said it had flown 94% of its planned schedule in the last seven days.
It said January’s announcement in Britain of the end of travel restrictions had boosted summer bookings.
“Since travel restrictions were removed, easyJet has seen a strong recovery in trading which has been sustained, resulting in a positive outlook for Easter and beyond, with daily booking volumes for summer currently tracking ahead of those at the same time in FY19,” Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said on Tuesday.
“We remain confident in our plans which will see us reaching near 2019 flying levels for this summer.”
EasyJet said it expected to report a group headline loss before tax in a range of between 535 million pounds and 565 million pounds ($696-735 million) for the six months to the end of March 2022.
($1 = 0.7689 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Stephen Coates)
