EasyJet flying high as profits soar to record £700m
BUDGET airline easyJet is set to unveil record annual profits of about £700million on Tuesday after flying unprecedented numbers of passengers away from Britain’s dismal summer.
The airline, under chief executive Carolyn McCall, had an exceptionally successful summer trading period which continued into September.
Its most popular destinations were Barcelona, Nice, Palma and Malaga and it flew a total of 68.6million passengers in the year to the end of September, which is also its financial year end.
EasyJet reached a record load factor – a measure of its passenger carrying capacity – of 94.4 per cent in August when it dealt with 7.1million passengers.
Profits are likely to be about 8 per cent higher than in the previous year on sales up slightly to £4.7billion.
Analysts at investment bank Nomura reckon the airline is doing well because of increases in the number of passengers carried, which has resulted in higher yields – the amount of money made per passenger per mile.
The City believes easyJet still has the opportunity to take market share from older established carriers despite competition from strong rivals such as Ryanair.
EasyJet has said it will increase its capacity over the winter quite markedly by up to 8 per cent while the number of passengers carried by competitors on its routes appears to be rising by only about 3 per cent.
Ryanair is believed to be focusing its attentions on expansion across Continental Europe.