RESERVATIONS

Losses at Easyjet narrowed in its first half after the budget airline enjoyed one of its best winters.

The low-cost carrier reported a £68 million pre-tax loss in the six months to 31 March, compared with a £236m loss 12 months previously.

Headline profit before tax, excluding costs associated with its new operations in Berlin Tegel, came in at £8m against a £212m loss last year.

Revenue rose 19.5 per cent to £2.18 billion in the period, exceeding £2bn for the first time, which chief executive Johan Lundgren attributed to “record” passenger numbers. They grew by three million to 36.8 million, including 700,000 from Tegel.

The early Easter and “capacity reductions by other airlines”, including the collapse of Monarch and Air Berlin and the winter withdrawal of Ryanair from the UK domestic market, also helped boost the firm’s sales performance.

Lundgren said: “Easyjet has delivered an excellent performance, reporting a profit of £8m, one of our best results

0 The airline has seen passenger numbers increase by 8.8% to 36.8 million

“The balance sheet looks robust… but we’d still like to see some meaningful progress on non-fuel costs before we turn more positive on the airline”

NICHOLAS HYETT, ANALYST ever in the winter trading period, excluding the one-off impact of the start-up of our Tegel operation.”

He also unveiled an increase in investment in Easyjet Holidays to increase market share, highlighted initiatives to boost the number of passengers travelling on business, and revealed plans to introduce a loyalty programme.

“I also outlined new investments to harness the power of our data to improve our customer proposition, reduce costs and increase revenue. All of these initiatives will provide higher profit per seat and higher returns for our shareholders,” Lundgren added.

Plus, Easyjet booked a £19m charge for the sale and leaseback of ten A319 aircraft in the period, a £1m charge associated with an organisational review, and a £4m charge for “Brexit-related plans”.

This was on top of a £24m charge for the integration of Berlin Tegel. Last year, Easyjet snapped up part of Air Berlin’s operation for €40m (£35.2m), which included a raft of landing