EasyJet predicts bonanza summer as bookings soar

THE boss of EasyJet has said he is looking forward to a ‘profitable’ summer and an influx of bookings.

The company expects to operate at close to pre-pandemic levels as demand from holidaymakers picks up.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren, 55, hailed the ‘significant improvement’ his company has made in recent months as ‘pent-up demand’ kicked in following the end of Covid-related travel restrictions.

EasyJet has flown up to 250,000 passengers and 1,600 flights daily since Easter, while its holidays business is on track to carry more than 1.1m customers this financial year.

Lundgren said the current run rate of bookings is ahead of where the airline was in 2019. He said: ‘We’re clearly looking forward to coming close to 2019 levels in capacity in quarter four.

‘We’re looking forward to a profitable summer.’

Lundgren said he was not expecting a repeat of the staff shortages last month due to Covid that led to cancelled flights. ‘We have been focused on taking action to ensure we have strengthened our operational resilience for this summer,’ he said.

In its half-year results published yesterday, EasyJet revenue soared 524pc to £1.5bn from £240m in the same period a year earlier. Passenger numbers soared by 471pc to 23.4m – up from 4.1m in the same period last year.

Sophie Lund-Yates, at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The group is confident that the cost-of-living crisis isn’t touching performance.’

EasyJet clawed back on losses but failed to return to profit in the first six months of this year. The airline posted a loss of £545m, down from £701m in the same period last year.

And its fuel bill soared to £362m in the half-year results up from £97m.

Shares were up 0.1pc, or 6p, to 501.6p but have still fallen by 38pc over the past year.