Low-cost airline easyJet posted a pretax loss of £57.5 million (€72.7m) for the six months to end-March, against a £17.1 million loss the year earlier, due to costs incurred in integrating GB Airways and the impact of the higher fuel costs.
Total revenues for the carrier increased 24 per cent to £892.2 million, while passenger numbers were up 15 per cent to 18.9 million. Load factors were in line with the prior year at 81 per cent, it said.
The underlying pretax loss, which excludes £9.1 million of integration costs, came in at £48.4 million, it said, driven by higher fuel costs, which increased by £67 million in the period.
The underlying margin increased in line with expectations, to 5.4 per cent against 2.4 per cent for the same period a year ago, the company said.
EasyJet said its load factors remain robust and its forward bookings are slightly ahead of this time last year.
Oil remains the biggest challenge, it said, and the price of jet fuel is now 80 per cent up on a year ago.
This dramatic increase cannot be fully offset in the current financial year and although it is 40 per cent hedged in for the second half at $750 per tonne, with a fuel price of over $1,000 per tonne, fuel costs in the second half would increase by around £45 million, it said.
Separately, easyJet said it carried 3.55 million passengers in April, 13.4 per cent up year-on-year.
The load factor, meanwhile, declined by 3 percentage points to 80.1 per cent, which reflected Easter falling in March this year, it said.