McCall ready to take off on a high as easyJet shares climb
EASYJET’S Carolyn McCall today said she was flying out on an improving picture as the budget airline reaps the benefit of the recent collapse of three airlines and Ryanair’s decision to slash flights over the winter.
The shares climbed 6% to
£13.55 despite a fall in pre-tax profits of 17.3%, following a £101 million currency hit due to the post-Brexit dive in the pound.
McCall starts as chief executive of ITV in January after more than seven years with Europe’s second-biggest budget airline.
She said revenue per seat was climbing for the first time in two years and would increase by the lowto-mid-single digits between October and March.
“It’s good to leave when things are getting better. Underlying profit is up 3% and the future is bright,” McCall said.
European airlines have faced turbulence this year which led to the collapse of Alitalia, Air Berlin and the UK chartered airline Monarch.
Pre-tax profit at the budget airline plunged from £494 million in 2016 to £408 million, although revenues rose 8.1%.
However, the airline carried a record 80 million passengers and grew capacity by 8.5%.
Looking ahead, McCall said it was too early to say by how much fares might rise, because of reductions in capacity across Europe. However, forward bookings for the first 55m 196 £1.6bn 80m 279 £5.4bn quarter are ahead of last year by 88%.
The airline has been working with start-ups to develop digital products and said it would trial facial recognition technology and e-gates to help speed up boarding at Gatwick and Luton in 2018.
EasyJet also said it was in a strong position to pick up slots at Gatwick, Luton and Manchester following the collapse of Monarch.
Last month easyJet said it had bought parts of insolvent Air Berlin’s business, for €40 million.
However, total costs associated with the deal for the stricken German carrier are likely to reach
£140 million.
@angejameson