Flight chaos that cost easyJet £133m a ‘one-off’, boss claims

Easyjet CEO says 'nothing new' on the impact of Brexit on travel

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However, the pre-tax loss for the three months to the end of June, including a £36million blow due to adverse currency movements, was an improvement on the £318million loss the airline posted for the same period last year.

Revenues for the three months to the end of June rocketed from £213million to £1.8billion.

EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said that despite the chaos at airports in the UK and Europe, it flew 22 million passengers over the third quarter, seven times more than it did last year, hitting 92 per cent capacity on its flights.

The low-cost airline managed to fly 95 per cent of its planned schedule this quarter, although staff shortages combined with the “unprecedented ramp up” in demand post-Covid.

EasyJet was forced to cut thousands of flights to stabilise its operations, though Lundgren said that the problems of earlier this summer were a “one-off”.

He added: “We’ve taken action to build the additional resilience needed this summer and the operation has now normalised.”

He added that easyJet expects its flights to be around 90 per cent full in its fourth quarter, which covers the key summer holiday months. Its flights are 71 per cent booked for the quarter.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said that despite Lundgren’s optimism, the disruption has affected the image of easyJet and other airlines, while the cost-ofliving crisis could bring its recovery to a halt.

Mould said: “Problems like shortage of labour aren’t going to disappear overnight. For now though, it does look like people have been so starved of their week on the beach they’re prepared to put up with some disruption and higher costs.

“How long that can last when household budgets are under severe pressure is open to question. Maybe you can stick a summer break on the credit card this year and worry about paying it off when you’re back. However, that’s not sustainable beyond the short term.”

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