easyJet plc (EZJ) 12-Apr-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BST Dissemination of a
Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group. The issuer is
solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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12 April 2022
easyJet plc
Trading statement for the six months ended 31 March 2022
H1 losses reduced year on year, ahead of market expectations,
driven by improved trading and boosted by self-help measures
-- Summer plans to reach near 2019 capacity unchanged
-- Strong, sustained recovery in trading since the relaxation of
travel restrictions, reflecting the pent-updemand coming out of the
pandemic
-- 64% of H2 fuel hedged at USD571 per metric tonne, reducing
exposure to current fuel price
-- Outperformed H1 expectations despite challenges from Omicron
and rising fuel prices
Summary
First half losses have reduced year on year, outperforming
expectations, as self-help measures including network optimisation,
ancillary products, and a continued cost focus deliver. This result
is despite ongoing challenges from Covid-19, rising fuel prices,
the removal of furlough support and incremental costs associated
with ramping up operations.
easyJet has ramped up capacity throughout the quarter, operating
at 80% of FY19 capacity in March. Since the announcement to remove
UK travel restrictions on 24 January, we have seen a strong and
sustained recovery in trading. Summer bookings for the last six
weeks have tracked ahead of the same period in FY19 as customers
book closer to departure.
Everyone at easyJet has been deeply shocked and saddened by the
Russian invasion of Ukraine and we have looked at the best ways we
can directly support those affected. We have been working closely
with the UN refugee agency UNHCR, to provide seats on flights
across our network as well as working with our charity partner
UNICEF to support their work on the ground as part of the response
effort.
easyJet has very little exposure in Eastern Europe, with no
routes into Ukraine, Russia or Belarus. Our nearest network points
are Budapest in Hungary and Krakow in Poland which only account for
1.4% of our total capacity. Additionally, due to our geographical
footprint, none of our flight routes need to operate into
Ukrainian, Belarusian or Russian airspace, and therefore we are not
exposed to re-routing and increased fuel burn.
Commenting, Johan Lundgren, easyJet Chief Executive said:
"easyJet's performance in the second quarter has been driven by
improved trading following the UK Government's decision to relax
testing restrictions with an extra boost from self-help measures
which saw us outperform market expectations.
"Since travel restrictions were removed, easyJet has seen a
strong recovery in trading which has been sustained, resulting in a
positive outlook for Easter and beyond, with daily booking volumes
for summer currently tracking ahead of those at the same time in
FY19.
"We remain confident in our plans which will see us reaching
near 2019 flying levels for this summer and emerge as one of the
winners in the recovery."
Bookings
Since the announcement to remove UK travel restrictions on 24
January, we have seen a strong and sustained recovery resulting in
the proportion of bookings between the UK and EU now being broadly
equal, which is where we would expect it to be based on our
capacity allocation, compared to last year when the split reached
around 70:30 EU vs UK with the strictest restrictions in place
within the UK.
We continue to see strong demand for Q4, especially on leisure
routes where easyJet will be the biggest it has ever been. This has
been boosted by the addition of a further five aircraft worth of
slots in Greece. easyJet will be the largest carrier into the main
Greek Islands this summer.
easyJet holidays also continues to strengthen its position as a
significant player in the holidays market, with over 70% of the
programme already sold and at significantly stronger margins
compared to 2019.
Capacity
During Q2 easyJet flew 67% of FY19 capacity in line with our
expectations. Our capacity forecasting has been accurate and
disciplined throughout the pandemic.
Load factor for Q2 was 78%, due to the impact that Omicron had
on customers' confidence and ability to travel during the early
part of the quarter. Load factor has built back during the second
quarter as travel restrictions eased across the network.
Passenger1 numbers in Q2 increased to 11.5 million (Q2 FY21: 1.2
million).
January March Q2 Q2
February 2022
2022 2022 FY22 FY21
Number of flights 18,857 26,709 36,681 82,247 11,672
Peak operating aircraft 223 223 272 272 161
Passengers (thousand) 1 2,301 3,904 5,340 11,545 1,228
Seats flown (thousand) 2 3,398 4,831 6,615 14,844 2,062
% of FY'19 capacity flown 50% 68% 80% 67% 9%
Load factor 3 68% 81% 81% 78% 60%
Financials
Total group revenue and headline costs for the first half are
expected to be around GBP1,500 million and around GBP2,050 million
respectively. Pricing remained competitive during the first half,
although easyJet's ancillary products continue to deliver, with
revenue per seat sold of GBP19.56 (GBP12.47 in H1'19),
demonstrating the continued success of easyJet's ancillary
products.
easyJet continues to have one of the strongest, investment
grade, balance sheets in European Aviation. As at 31 March 2022 our
net debt position was c.GBP0.6 billion (30 September 2021: GBP0.9
billion) including cash and cash equivalents and money market
deposits of c.GBP3.5 billion.
Sale and leaseback
easyJet has entered into sale and leaseback transactions for 10
A319s, generating total gross cash proceeds of USD120 million and a
loss of c.GBP20 million during the six months to 31 March. easyJet
entered into these transactions as part of the ongoing strategy to
manage residual value risk.
Current operations
easyJet has flown 94% of the planned schedule in the last seven
days with daily flight volumes around 1,500 per day being 4x higher
than the same point last year. This is despite the recent increase
in the number of crew testing positive for Covid-19, together with
normal operational disruption such as weather and ATC delays. We
have proactively managed this in advance by making pre-emptive
cancellations as early as possible, enabling the majority of our
customers to rebook onto flights departing the same day.
Outlook
easyJet expects to report a group headline loss before tax in
the range of GBP535 million and GBP565 million for the six months
ended 31 March 2022.
easyJet expects Q3 capacity to be c.90% of Q3 2019 levels. Q4
FY22 capacity on sale remains at near Q4 2019 levels.
easyJet achieved an average effective fuel price in H1 FY22 of
c.USUSD599 per metric tonne.
easyJet is currently c.64% hedged for fuel in H2 of FY22 at
c.USUSD571 per metric tonne, c.42% hedged for H1 FY23 at c.USUSD654
and c.15% hedged for H2 FY23 at c.USUSD766. The spot price on 11
April 2022 was around USUSD1,100.
For further details please contact easyJet plc:
Institutional investors and analysts:
Michael Barker Investor Relations +44 (0) 7985 890 939
Adrian Talbot Investor Relations +44 (0) 7971 592 373
Media:
Anna Knowles Corporate Communications +44 (0) 7985 873 313
Edward Simpkins Finsbury +44 (0) 7947 740 551 / (0) 207 251 3801
Dorothy Burwell Finsbury +44 (0) 7733 294 930 / (0) 207 251 3801
A copy of this Trading Statement is available at
http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors
Notes 1. Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned
seats include seats that are flown whether or not thepassenger
turns up as easyJet is a no-refund airline, and once a flight has
departed a no-show customer isgenerally not entitled to change
flights or seek a refund. Earned seats also include seats provided
for promotionalpurposes and to staff for business travel. 2.
Capacity based on actual number of seats flown. 3. Represents the
number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats
available for passengers. Noweighting of the load factor is carried
out to recognise the effect of varying flight (or "sector")
lengths.
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ISIN: GB00B7KR2P84
Category Code: TST
TIDM: EZJ
LEI Code: 2138001S47XKWIB7TH90
Sequence No.: 154954
EQS News ID: 1325677
End of Announcement EQS News Service
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 12, 2022 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
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