LONDON – British airline EasyJet hiked its annual profit guidance today after record January demand and falling quarterly losses, as customers prioritise their holidays despite the uncertain economic climate.
The carrier is set to outstrip expectations for annual pre-tax profit of £126 million (RM662 million) for its financial year to the end of September, despite fears over a cost-of-living crisis.
“Whilst we remain mindful of the uncertain macroeconomic outlook across the globe, based on current high levels of demand and strong bookings, EasyJet anticipates beating the current market profit expectations” for 2022-2023, it said in a statement.
EasyJet expects to rebound into the black after logging three annual losses in a row.
The carrier had posted a reduced 2021-2022 loss in November, but this was far less than during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
EasyJet added Wednesday that it trimmed pre-tax losses to £133 million in its first quarter or three months to last December.
That was down sharply from £213 million last time around.
Traffic rebounded 47% to 17.5 million passengers in the reporting period.
EasyJet saw a major rebound in traditional New Year holiday bookings, with three record-breaking weekends so far in January.
That means it hopes to curb first-half losses significantly this year.
“We have seen strong and sustained demand for travel over the first quarter,” said chief executive Johan Lundgren.
“Many returned to make bookings during the traditional turn-of-year sale where we filled five aircraft every minute in the peak hours, which culminated in three record-breaking weekends for sales revenue this month.”
Lundgren added that customers were seeking to “prioritise spending on holidays for the year ahead”.
He added: “This will set us firmly on the path to delivering a full-year profit”. – AFP, January 25, 2023
