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LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – British airline easyJet ( EZJ.L ) said early bookings for next spring and summer are looking positive, and it is seeing strong demand for peak holiday weeks this winter, as customers struggle Accepts higher ticket prices despite the economy. .
The outlook may give investors confidence that holiday bookings may take hold, despite mounting pressure on household budgets from higher inflation, energy prices and rising mortgage rates.
As the economic outlook darkens in Europe, analysts have warned that bookings may fall. Demand for flights has historically tended to track economic growth and easyJet’s biggest market, Britain, is already in recession.
But easyJet said that for the six months to April 2023, when the airline tends to make the bulk of its profits, early bookings looked positive with higher Easter ticket yields than in 2022, although it warned that visibility remained low.
For the current winter period, the airline said Christmas ticket yields were up around 18% amid strong travel demand.
“EasyJet is performing well in difficult times,” Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Consumers will protect their holidays but look for value.”
However, the airline warned that the industry as a whole would face higher costs as a result of fuel prices, a stronger US dollar and wage inflation.
Lundgren said low-cost airlines such as easyJet would benefit in the current environment while legacy carriers such as Air France ( AIRF.PA ) and British Airways ( ICAG.L ), which have higher cost bases, would struggle.
Europe’s biggest airline and low-cost rival Ryanair ( RYA.I ) said earlier this month that November and December bookings were strong and that it expects strong traffic and average fare growth for at least the next 18-months.
Reporting results for the 12 months to the end of September, easyJet said its headline pretax loss came in at 178 million pounds ($213 million), in line with consensus estimates of a loss of 182 million pounds.
The loss, reflecting the impact of the pandemic in late 2021 and early 2022 and disruption and cancellation costs last spring, overshadowed a very profitable summer quarter when earnings (EBITDAR) rose to 674 million pounds as holiday demand surged.
($1 = 0.8341 pounds)
Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Paul Sandall and Kate Holton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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