EasyJet has seen its revenues per passenger surpass the average £100 for the first-time, showing the impact of inflation on holidaymakers this year.
The British short-haul carrier, Britain’s most popular airline, that accounts for the majority of flights from Gatwick reported £203 millions in profits for the quarter April to June, up from £114 million last year.
The company stated that it expects to record record profits during peak summer but warned that this would depend on how much disruption is caused by the air traffic control strike in Europe.
EasyJet’s revenues grew by 34 percent in the quarter from the end of the spring to the end June. The company carried 23,45 million passengers, generating £2,36 billion.
EasyJet passengers spent an average of £100.63 for each flight, including the fare and ancillary fees for baggage, priority boarding, and package holidays. This is 26 percent more than the £79.77 its passengers paid during the same quarter of last year. This is a 50 per cent increase on the £66.70 that they paid before the pandemic, in the three-month period ending June 2019.
EasyJet’s preferred parameter, revenue per seat flown (which is the easiest to measure), shows a 23 percent increase over last year. The inflation rate for 2019 is 33 percent.
EasyJet has achieved success by concentrating on only profitable routes, increasing fares, and charging more.
EasyJet’s revenues increased by 34% compared to the spring of 2019. It flew 9% fewer seats, carried 11% fewer passengers and had a lower passenger load. EasyJet’s third quarter, from April to June, closes on September 30.
Johan Lundgren said that the strong passenger demand in the third quarter was a major factor for our performance. We expect another record-breaking pre-tax profit in the fourth quarter.
EasyJet’s summer quarter 2022 saw a profit that was a record at the time, of £674million. However, the losses it had suffered earlier in the year when it was still operating with the Covid-19 restrictions meant that it ended the financial year £178million in the red.
EasyJet relies on a good summer to bring it out of its red for the entire financial year. EasyJet’s spring quarter was profitable, with 310 aircraft operated. However, the winter loss of £441million left it in the red for the first nine month of the year.
The airline’s winter outlook stated that it is “seeing good booking momentum with sold ticket yields, load factors and planned capacity increasing over 15% for the December quarter”.
EasyJet’s stock price has remained essentially flat since the beginning of the year, when investors realized that airlines would operate in a more normal environment during the peak seasons in 2023. Early trading saw the share price drop 1p, to 494p. This valued the company at £3.7billion.