LONDON (Alliance News) - easyJet PLC on Tuesday reported growth in passengers carried and load factor in the first quarter of its financial year, although revenue per seat and ultimately total revenue fell following the terrorist attacks in Egypt and Paris.
The low-cost airline said the number of passengers carried in the quarter ended December 31 increased by 8.1% to 16.1 million, as the load factor rose by 0.6 percentage point to 90.3%.
easyJet said strong revenue per seat performance in October was offset by the terrorist attacks in Paris and the crash of a Russian passenger jet departing the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, resulting in lower demand and yield in November and December.
However forward bookings for the second quarter are showing a "marked improvement" on this, the carrier said. For the first quarter on the whole, revenue per seat was down 3.7% on a constant currency basis.
Total revenue declined 0.1% on the same period the year before to GBP930 million, as revenue generated by increased passenger volumes and higher load factor was offset by reduced revenue per seat and foreign exchange rate movements, the latter of which easyJet said hit results by GBP32 million.
The budget airline added that its expectations for the full year ending September 30 remain in line with market expectations.
"The easyJet customer-centric strategy of giving passengers low fares to primary airports continues to be executed well. This year we will consolidate that with a relentless focus on cost reduction which is already delivering. This will ensure that easyJet continues to win and continues to grow revenue, profit and dividends," Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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