EasyJet reported a sharp rise in bookings of 105,000 as government revealed “green-list”
EasyJet (LON:EZJ) said on Thursday that it anticipates a surge in demand for flights from June as the airline posted £701m loss for H1 of the current financial year.
The FTSE 250 company said its results could have been worse if not for its cost-saving programme which is expected to bring £500m in savings for the year to September, as the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to damage the industry.
Around this time last year EasyJet made an underlying loss of £193m during H2, as flight schedules were beginning to slow down as the pandemic came to Europe.
The low-cost airline made a loss before tax of £645m.
EasyJet reported a sharp rise in bookings of 105,000 as the government put forward its “green-list” for destinations that require testing without a quarantine. It is also expecting to fly just 15% of its pre-crisis capacity during Q3.
Neil Shah, director of research at Edison Group says that no company will be awaiting the complete lifting of travel restrictions more than EasyJet as the company posted its half-year results.
“Financial results were unsurprisingly negative, as passenger numbers for the six months ending 31 March 2021 decreased by 89.4% to 4.1 million compared to the 38.6 million for the same period last year. Total revenue decreased by 90% to £240 million, with passenger revenue decreasing by 91% to £170 million. The company undertook major restructuring and cost reduction process alongside maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet, which meant that results came in on their expectations,” said Shah.
Commenting on the results, Johan Lundgren, EasyJet chief executive said:
“With leisure travel taking off in the UK again earlier this week where we are the largest operator to Green list countries and with so many European governments easing restrictions to open up travel again, we are ready to significantly ramp up our flying for the summer with a view to maximising the opportunities we see in Europe. We have the ability to flex up quickly to operate 90% of our current fleet over the peak summer period to match demand,” said Lundgren.
“We know there is pent-up demand – we saw this again when Green list countries were released and added more than 105,000 seats – and so we look forward to being able to help many more people to travel this summer supported by our industry-leading flexible customer policies which means they can book with confidence.”
“Over the past six months, we have successfully undertaken a major restructuring and cost reduction process alongside maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet with significant liquidity and managing our cash burn better than expectations. This has delivered results in line with guidance. Our agility, trusted brand and famous value means we are well placed to bounce back in the recovery.”
