London, May 20, (dpa/GNA) – Following high half-year losses, British low-cost airline easyJet is gearing up for a resumption of flights in the coming months, company boss Johan Lundgren said on Thursday, with travel restrictions set to ease for the upcoming summer season.
EasyJet is bringing pilots and flight attendants back into full service to prepare for rising demand, the company announced from its headquarters in Luton near London.
“We are ready to significantly ramp up our flying for the summer with a view to maximising the opportunities we see in Europe,” Lundgren said according to the Press Association, adding that the company could quickly reach 90 per cent of its operational capacity.
However, most of easyJet’s fleet will remain grounded for the rest of this quarter, with capacity through June to reach just 15 per cent of the same period in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Short-term uncertainties remain too great to make financial estimates for the full year, the company said. Last-minute changes to travel restrictions could lead to sudden changes in ticket demand and flight offer.
In the six months to the end of March, easyJet’s losses widened further, as expected, due to the travel restrictions.
Net losses stood at 549 million pounds (774.6 million dollars), almost 70 per cent higher than in the previous year when the pandemic brought international travel to a halt in March.
In the most recent six-month period, around 4 million passengers flew with easyJet – around one-tenth of the previous year’s figures. Likewise, revenues plummeted to 240 million pounds.
GNA