EasyJet flights reach 60% of pre-pandemic levels

EasyJet records £318m pre-tax loss in Q3

EasyJet (LON:EZJ) will increase the number of flights it operates to 60% of the amount seen before the pandemic.

The budget airline will run 1,400 flights per day between July and September.

The British company also confirmed in a trading update that during Q3 it made a £318m pre-tax loss. EasyJet confirmed that the figure was in line with its own expectations.

Compared to the same period in 2019, EasyJet operated 17% of the level of flights, carrying 3m passengers.

Its revenues came in at £212m, up from £7.2m a year earlier.

EasyJet’s customers are waiting for longer to book their flights than in previous years, as 49% of its summer flights have been booked, compared to 65% in 2019.

Following the company’s trading update, the EasyJet share price is up by 1.9% during the morning session.

Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet, made recent comments on how his company has dealt with the ongoing challenges caused by the pandemic: “We have used our existing strengths like our network with renewed purpose – pivoting capacity to Europe where we saw the strongest demand.”

“The UK has had some of the toughest travel restrictions,” he said. “We know people want to fly, we know they want to travel. It’s all about the unwinding of restrictions.”

“Airlines are used to thinking on their feet and EasyJet has certainly been busy trying to find ways in which to generate as much revenue as possible during the pandemic,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Having raced to cut costs in the business, it is now shifting attention to customers in Continental Europe where there are more opportunities to make money than the UK.”

“Many companies the size of EasyJet would not be able to adapt so quickly, so credit must be given to the company for being able to shift a lot of moving parts.”