Travel disruption gives easyJet £130m loss but flights filling up for next quarter
Travel disruption due to short-staffing led to easyJet suffering a £130m loss in the three months ending in June.
The low-cost airline had a pre-tax loss of £114m due to the impact of cancellations, but its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR) was a profit of more than £100m. This was down from £313m in 2019, pre-Covid.
More than 22m passengers used the airline in the third quarter of 2022, representing a seven times increase on than the previous year, and 87 per cent on 2019. This was up from just under 3,000 the previous year.
In wake of the pandemic, many holidaymakers have headed to the continent for a break, but the furlough scheme during the pandemic meant many airline and airport workers were let go, and lots did not return; leading to severe staff shortages.
The result has been major travel disruption, long queues at airports, cancelled flights and frustrated holiday makers.
easyJet said the “unprecedented ramp up across the aviation industry, coupled with a tight labour market, has resulted in widespread operational challenges.”
It said this led to soaring levels of cancellations, while it operated 95 per cent of planned flights in the last three months . Despite a heavy loss in the last three months, the airline said it had reduced capacity and built up its ability to run all planned flights, as it looks to be fully operational this summer.
It also said its yield per passenger remained at £22, which outperformed pre pandemic levels, while its holidays generated £16m profit, carrying 0.4m customers.
Looking ahead to Q4, the outlook is strong, with 71 per cent of flights booked already and ticket yield 13 per cent above 2019.
“Delivering for customers this summer remains our highest priority. During the quarter we carried seven times more customers than the same time last year and operated 95 per cent of our schedule. We have taken action to build the additional resilience needed this summer and the operation has now normalised”, said Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive:
“Despite the loss this quarter due to the short-term disruption issues, the return to flying at scale has demonstrated that the strategic initiatives launched during the pandemic are delivering now and with more to come. “