The low-cost airline Easyjet flew in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021 with 58 percent of the capacity of 2019. It carried 17,3 million passengers.

Demand on intra-European and UK domestic routes was higher, while demand on international flights to and from the UK continued to be hampered by UK government travel restrictions.

Easyjet generated around £ 40 million in operating liquidity in the fourth quarter. Net debt has decreased to around £ 0,9 billion. For comparison: at the end of the third quarter, this area was worth two billion euros. The sharp decline is also the result of a capital increase of 1,2 billion euros. According to Easyjet, around 90 million euros of this were only received after September 30, 2021.

“It is clearly showing that an economic recovery is underway. Business travelers are returning to Easyjet, because companies and SMEs are convinced of our offer, our network and our sustainability concept. We have found that city breaks are gradually returning, while the demand for vacation travel is increasing from customers looking for flights and vacation deals to popular winter sun destinations such as Egypt and Turkey. The bookings for the October vacation periods were strong, especially for the Canary Islands, where we increased our capacity to around 140 percent of the level of the 2019 financial year, ”explains CEO Johan Lundgren.

Utilization is now expected to be up to 2022 percent of the 70 level in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. While intra-European demand drove the economic recovery in the summer, the UK government’s recent announcement to remove and relax restrictions and testing resulted in positive booking momentum in the first quarter. In response, the airline increased capacity by 100.000 seats for the first quarter, with demand for sunny winter destinations particularly strong. Easyjet expects that capacity will continue to grow throughout FY 2022 and we will act quickly and decisively to take advantage of additional opportunities in addition to the planned organic growth. Easyjet is expected to end the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021 with a pre-tax loss of between £ 1,135 billion and £ 1,175 billion. “During the quarter, Easyjet expanded its range of flights considerably, so that this summer we were the second largest airline in Europe and we were also able to halve our loss in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year. We expect positive booking dynamics for the 2022 financial year, which has prompted us to increase our capacity plans for the first quarter and fly up to 70 percent of the 2019 level, ”said CEO Johan Lundgren.