
LONDON (Reuters) -British airline EasyJet said travel was back and it would to fly 70% of its pre-pandemic capacity in the Oct-Dec period, higher than it planned last month, after COVID-19 restrictions drove losses above 1 billion pound loss in 2021.
Demand for holidays to winter sun destinations such as Egypt, Turkey and the Canary Islands showed customer appetite had returned, said easyJet (LON:), adding that business travellers were also booking flights.
“We are encouraged to see positive booking momentum into full-year 2022 which has led us to increase our capacity plans,” easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said on Tuesday.
That outlook represents a turnaround from last year where pandemic uncertainty and travel bans will have pushed easyJet to an expected loss of between 1.135 billion pounds ($1.54 billion)and 1.175 billion pounds for the 12 months ended Sept, it said.
Consensus sits at the top of that range, with a forecast for a loss of 1.175 billion pounds. The results will be on Nov.30.
Seeking to boost its recovery from the pandemic, easyJet in September launched a surprise 1.2 billion pound rights issue and also revealed it had rejected an “opportunistic” bid from a suitor, believed to be Wizz Air.
($1 = 0.7349 pounds)
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