THOMAS COOK DEMISE BOOSTS AIRLINE
BY TRICIA PHILLIPS EASYJET flew high in the last three months of 2019 – mainly on the coattails of Thomas Cook’s collapse.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said the low-cost airline estimated that per seat revenue grew by 1.5 per cent as a result of the problems Thomas Cook faced, and EasyJet’s overall revenue per seat rose 8.8 per cent to £58.63 from October to December 31.
Passenger numbers were up 2.8 per cent to 22.2million and revenue grew 9.7 per cent to £1.1billion.
This year is looking good too as 75 per cent of seats have so far been booked to the end of March.
Lundgren said: “I’m pleased that we have made a strong start to the year, with continued positive momentum.
“The improvement in our revenue per seat has been driven by our self-help revenue initiatives combined with robust customer demand and a lower capacity growth market.” Thomas Cook fell into administration in September, ending its 178-year history, and EasyJet snapped up some of the airline’s slots at airports. City analysts were generally upbeat about Easyjet’s robust performance. Will Ryder, equity analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This is a strong operational performance, although as ever there’s a lot they can’t control. There’s very little management can do if the French air traffic controllers decide to strike but they have benefited from Thomas Cook’s collapse. “Frustratingly, costs per seat, excluding fuel, increased again and while investors will recognise the mitigating factors, higher costs are becoming a pattern. “This shouldn’t distract from a good overall quarter and, while we don’t know what else this industry will throw at us, it sets EasyJet up for a positive year.”