easyJet reports £700m losses ahead of summer "ramp up" in demand

A national airline company has announced that it expects to post losses of around £700m for the six months to the end of March.

easyJet reported today that it is set to make a pre-tax loss of £690-730m for the last six month period.

Its passenger numbers in the period dropped by 89 per cent, prompting a group revenue fall of 90 per cent, totalling £235m down from £2,382m.

However, the company has said that it is “well-positioned for recovery” and expects a “ramp up” in demand this summer.

Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said: “easyJet has maintained a disciplined approach to flying during the first half of our financial year, resulting in a first half loss and cash burn better than expectations.

“We continue to have access to significant levels of liquidity alongside easyJet’s major cost-out programme which continues to deliver ongoing cost and efficiency benefits. All of this positions us well to lead the recovery.

“We welcome the confirmation by the UK government that international travel is on track to reopen as planned in mid-May.

“easyJet was founded to make travel accessible for all and so we continue to engage with government to ensure that the cost of the required testing is driven down so that it doesn’t risk turning back the clock and make travel too costly for some.

“We continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe and with vaccination programmes accelerating, most countries are planning to resume flying at scale in May.

“We have the operational flexibility to rapidly increase flying and add destinations to match demand.

“easyJet is ready to resume flying, prepared for the ramp up and looking forward to being able to reunite people with their families or take them on leisure and business flights once again.

“As a result, we remain well-positioned for the recovery this summer and beyond.”

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