easyJet has reported that its third quarter results ending 30 June were in line with expectations and total revenue for quarter increased by 11.4 per cent to £1.7 billion.
Passenger revenue increased by 10.7 per cent to £1.3 billion while ancillary revenue increased by 14.3 per cent to £374 million.
The airline flew 26.4 million passengers in the quarter, an increase of eight per cent on Q3 last year, driven by an increase in capacity of 10 per cent to 28.8 million seats.
Load factor decreased, as anticipated, by 1.7 percentage points from 93.4 per cent to 91.7 per cent, due to late yield initiatives as well as high prior year comparatives due to industrial action in France and Monarch’s bankruptcy.
easyJet also announced that it has poached Peter Bellew from Ryanair who is to join as chief operating officer(COO). He has been COO at Ryanair since December 2017.
Chief executive, Johan Lundgren said: “easyJet’s third quarter performance was robust and despite the tougher macroeconomic conditions was in line with expectations.
“Revenue increased by over 11% with RPS increasing through a combination of successful revenue initiatives, a solid Easter performance and a focus on late yield initiatives, with passenger numbers climbing by two million to over 26 million.
“Our customers experienced significantly reduced cancellations and long delays largely as a result of our investment in operational resilience, which also contributed significantly to driving down cost per seat ex fuel at constant currency by 4% in the period.”
He added: “We remain very focused on delivering our revenue initiatives and driving costs down to enhance our profitability per seat. With second half forward bookings at 78% we have better visibility on the second half and expect to deliver a profit before tax of between £400 million and £440 million, in line with market expectations.”
easyJet said it also increased its ownership in Q3 by qualifying EEA (excluding UK) nationals to 50.6 per cent (as at 30 June 2019).
The airline said it expects fleet growth to reach 332 aircraft by the end of FY19, 349 aircraft by the end of FY20 and 352 aircraft by the end of FY21.
For the year ending 30 September 2019 easyJet said it expects with 78 per cent of second half seats sold it has a better full year visibility and headline profit before tax for the 12 months to 30 September 2019 is expected to be between £400 million and £440 million, in line with market expectations.
However, easyJet also warned of “softening of demand due to tougher macroeconomic conditions across Europe as well as Brexit-related consumer uncertainty in the UK”.
