EasyJet was affected over the Christmas period as the Omicron variant affected travel.
Passenger load fell to 67% in December from 80% in November. However, bookings have increased due to the government’s announcement that tests are no longer necessary.
“Booking volumes jumped in the UK following the welcome reduction of travel restrictions announced on 5 January, which have been sustained and then given a further boost from the UK Government’s decision earlier this week to remove all testing requirements. We believe testing for travel across our network should soon become a thing of the past,” said chief executive Johan Lundgren.
“We see a strong summer ahead, with pent up demand that will see easyJet returning to near 2019 levels of capacity with UK beach and leisure routes performing particularly well.”
Jonathan Sullivan, the managing director in Accenture’s Travel Industry, said: “Because leisure travel is notoriously seasonal, the key differentiator in airlines’ long-term survival will be the ability to offer and deliver more services and products that tempt and delight customers.”
“While that sounds simple, the industry must overcome the obstacle of its dated underlying systems. Modern digital systems are essential to digitally sell and manage a broader variety of add-on services, including from third parties. These systems also need to gracefully cope with the reality that travel plans may be changed or rescheduled at short notice.”