Easyjet shrinks losses as it lures business passengers

EasyJet’s half-year loss shrank more than forecast as Europe’s second-biggest discount airline lured travelers with business-friendly perks and milder winter weather reduced the seasonal disruption to flights. The pretax loss for the six months ended March 31st was £53 million (€65m), compared with £61 million a year, according to a statement today.

The Luton, England-based company had said in March that the loss would be between £55 million and £65 million.

EasyJet is intensifying efforts to win business passengers and older, affluent customers with a mix of flexible tickets, allocated seats, fast-track boarding and higher frequencies. Revenue per seat is likely to post percentage growth in "low single digits" in the second half, the airline said.

“There continue to be a number of attractive opportunities for EasyJet to grow profitably in Europe,” chief executive officer Carolyn McCall said. ‘The results reflect our on-going progress against our strategic priorities, and demonstrate the structural advantage EasyJet has against both legacy and low cost competition.”

De-icing and weather-disruption costs fell in the period, even as the timing of Easter trimmed sales by £25 million. The load factor, a measure of occupancy levels, rose to 89 per cent in the half, with EasyJet boosting capacity 3.6 per cent to 31.1 million seats. About 51 per cent of available berths have been sold for the summer period.

The cost per seat excluding fuel and currency swings was about 0.5 per cent higher, with planned maintenance and lease costs offset by lower de-icing and disruption charges.

EasyJet will boost seating 6.7 per cent this summer, and said it estimates competitor capacity on its routes will grow by about 3 per cent as discount rivals including Ryanair Holdings Plc and Norwegian Air Shuttle AS chase market share. Ryanair will release results for the full-year through March on May 19th.

Bloomberg