EasyJet to Forecast Profit Growth
By Brian Straus, Air Transportation World | Aug. 08, 2006
EasyJet yesterday released abbreviated operating results for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30 and said it expects full-year unit revenue and unit costs to be "slightly higher" than originally forecast as capacity now is expected to rise approximately 13% over the previous fiscal year.Pre-tax profit still is expected to grow 40%-50% over the 59 million pounds ($112.5 million) earned for the year ended Sept. 30, 2005 (ATWOnline, July 10).
The carrier posted revenues of ?460.2 million in the June quarter, an increase of 34.2% over the year-ago period. Revenue per seat climbed 17.3% to ?45.07 and ancillary revenue per seat rose 32%. EasyJet flew 8.6 billion RPKs, up 20.6%, against an 18.7% increase in traffic to 9.9 billion ASKs driven by the opening of 19 new routes during the quarter. Load factor grew 1.1 points to 86%.
In July the LCC transported 3.2 million passengers, an 11.3% gain over the year-ago month. Load factor went up 2 points to 90.4%.