Last checked at 
(Adds dropped word in paragraph 3)
* FY loss of 1.27 bln stg vs 430 mln stg profit last yr
* Bookings rise 50% vs previous week on positive vaccine
news
* Cash burn improves in Q4 vs Q3
* To extend repayment timeline under UK COVID lending scheme
* Shares down 1%
By Sarah Young
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - EasyJet's bookings jumped by 50%
last week on positive news about a coronavirus vaccine, a brief
respite during a pandemic which pushed the British airline to a
1.27 billion pound ($1.68 billion) annual loss, the first in its
history.
European travel has been at very low levels for over eight
months, forcing easyJet to take on more debt, tap shareholders
for cash and sell dozens of its aircraft to boost its finances
to survive until flying recovers.
Chief Executive Johan Lundgren cautioned that while the
positive vaccine news was a boost, it was still "early days" and
he said he could not forecast when travel would pick-up.
"There is no visibility really beyond the quarter, because
this is all down to the travel restrictions," he told reporters
on a call.
That makes him more downbeat than larger competitor Ryanair
which forecast a return to 75-80% of pre-crisis traffic
by next summer on the vaccine news.
Positive news about the Pfizer vaccine on Nov. 9, which last
week sent easyJet shares rocketing by 45%, helped easyJet's
bookings surge 50% last week compared to the previous week said
Lundgren, adding that momentum continued this week following
news on a Moderna vaccine on Monday.
If travel does not pick up in the coming months, however,
investors worry that easyJet could still need to raise extra
debt or equity.
The airline said it agreed an extension of a 600 million
pound UK government COVID-19 loan on Tuesday, meaning it now has
longer to pay back half of the debt, and Lundgren sought to
reassure investors that it was well-set for now.
"No, we think we're in a good position ... at this moment in
time," Lundgren said on BBC radio when asked if easyJet would
need to raise more money.
He said that the airline would keep its finances under
review given the continued uncertainty ahead.
Quarterly cash burn, a gauge watched by investors keen to
see costs reduced, improved to 651 million pounds from 774
million pounds in the previous period.
With lockdowns in England, France and Germany, easyJet plans
to only fly around 20% of planned capacity for the rest of the
year and the CEO said as well as the vaccine, he wanted to see
testing as a way to reduce quarantine times to help boost
demand.
Shares in the airline traded down 1% to 768 pence at 1008
GMT in a release which Goodbody analysts said contained "no
surprises ... which can be taken well".
($1 = 0.7576 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; additional reporting by William
Schomberg, editing by James Davey, Paul Sandle/Guy Faulconbridge
and David Evans)
