EasyJet shares were down 1.8% to 532.6p in early morning trading on Tuesday following the travel company’s release of an estimated £535 to £565 million pre-tax loss in its interim trading update for HY1 2022.
The budget airline reported a reduction in losses year-on-year, along with an increase in capacity to 80% of FY2019 in March.
The group’s total revenue and headline costs for the period were projected at £1.5 million, with an anticipated £2 million in headline costs.
The company’s passenger numbers increased to 11.5 million in Q2 compared to 1.2 million in Q2 FY2021.
EasyJet noted that its summer bookings for the last six weeks have tracked ahead of the same period in FY2019, with a particular increase in leisure routes.
“As a short-haul operator, easyJet is well positioned to capture demand from holiday-deprived families and individuals, who may be more wary about travelling further afield while there is still so much uncertainty,” said Hargreaves Lansdown lead equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.
The group highlighted the addition of five extra aircraft slots in Greece, positioning the travel firm as the largest carrier to the main Greek Islands over summer 2022.
The company also confirmed that 70% of its EasyJet holidays programme has been sold out and at substantially stronger margins against 2019 results.
“Despite a difficult climate, EasyJet has been increasing its operations, reaching a capacity of around 80% of 2019 levels in the first half of 2022,” said Third Bridge senior airlines analyst Allegra Dawes.
“High demand is expected in the European summer seasons as pent-up demand finds an outlet during the holiday season.”
EasyJet confirmed that the company flew at 67% 2019 capacity in Q2, in line with management expectations.
The travel firm suffered a dent in load factor for Q2 as a result of Omicron surges, however the load factor was built back over the second quarter after Covid-19 restrictions began to ease.
“EasyJet’s performance in the second quarter has been driven by improved trading following the UK Government’s decision to relax testing restrictions with an extra boost from self-help measures which saw us outperform market expectations,” said EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren.
“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.”