By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- EasyJet (LON:EZJ) reported a loss of 545 million pounds before taxes for the first half of its fiscal year and warned that it still can’t give guidance for the full year.
The loss was in line with expectations, but an improvement from last year's 701 million and toward the better end of its guidance range.
The airline did say that leisure and domestic travel demand are currently running ahead of 2019 levels, but noted that sharp rises in fuel costs and broader inflationary pressures hurt its ability to predict financial results over the next six months.
EasyJet reported strong trading over the Easter period as economies across Europe relaxed their COVID-19 restrictions. Revenue was up over 500% year-on-year at 1.50 billion pounds.
Load factors – a measure of capacity utilization - ran at 90% during the holiday period, it said, adding that it expects them to stay at that level over the crucial summer quarter, the final quarter of its fiscal year.
It also noted that ticket yields for the fourth quarter are currently running some 15% ahead of 2019 levels.