EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis said July, August and September – easyJet’s fourth quarter – was 85% sold in terms of packages. “We continue to see demand is there for the fourth quarter,” he said after the airline revealed a £50 million uptick in third-quarter profits on Thursday (17 July).
"What we do see is a later booking market," Jarvis contined. "The ’near to’ booking window is shorter; it was 60 days last year – now it’s 55. It’s been a trend for a while, but it could have something to do with the heatwave we had. It doesn’t affect whether people will go away, but it does change when people will book.”
He added "in-month" bookings in June were “strong” despite spells of hot weather in the UK.
Jarvis said he was confident too that easyJet holidays would improve on the £86 million pre-tax profit it made during the three months to the end of June.
He added 67% of the airline’s capacity was sold for the fourth quarter, up one point on last year. However, he conceded: “The final outcome depends on how late summer bookings develop.”
Speaking shortly after the results were released on Thursday morning, Jarvis said there had been little impact on easyJet from the situation in the Middle East.
“In June, we did see a short-term impact on bookings in Turkey, Egypt and a little bit in Tunisia. It was short-lived – two to three weeks – so there is no intention to move capacity for the summer.”
He described strikes by air traffic controllers in France as “very disruptive”, with 70% of easyJet flights flying to or over France. Cancelling 660 flights in two days cost easyJet £15 million, he said. He put the total costs to the industry at £100 million.
Jarvis also signalled easyJet was unlikely to bid for any rival airlines. “We are very happy with our organic journey,” he said. “We’re looking to grow around 5% per annum in terms of capacity.”
He said disposing of 82 smaller Airbus A319s for larger aircraft was a “strong up-gauging opportunity” in itself.
He added the airline had been given "remedy slots" at airports including Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate when Lufthansa took a stake in Italy’s ITA Airways and would “see what opportunities” similar deals brought to easyJet.
