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* Cites strike-related disruption and Germanwings crash
* Says booking are recovering, expects full-year growth
* Shares down 8.5 percent (Adds CEO comments)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - British airline easyJet's outlook has been knocked by a difficult April, with air trafficcontrol strikes trimming profit and the Germanwings crash inFrance detterring customers from booking, sending its sharesdown 8.5 percent.
Europe's second-biggest budget carrier behind Ryanair said it is positioned for continued growth in itsfinancial year to September, having turned a profit in theweaker winter season for the first time.
The focus on Tuesday, however, remained the negative news,with analysts saying they would reduce annual profit forecaststo reflect the 25 million pound ($39 million) hit from theFrench air traffic control strikes that led to the cancellationof more than 600 flights.
Chief Executive Carolyn McCall described April as a "one-offhorrible month", saying that passengers had been deterred frombooking by the uncertainty created by the threat of air trafficstrikes as well as the Germanwings disaster in March, whichclaimed the lives of all 150 people on board.
"A lot of passengers just didn't book in April ... There isno question (that) when you see any tragic event, you just see areaction to that from consumers," McCall said, adding that itwas hard to quantify the financial impact of the crash onbookings and reassuring that the effect was short term.
"It has recovered, we've picked up momentum again," shesaid.
The company is now forecasting third-quarter revenue perseat to be down by about four percentage points, excludingcurrency effects. The drop is partly attributable to the timingof Easter and its decision to pass on lower fuel costs toconsumers through lower fares.
SHARE PRICE REACTION
Numis analyst Wyn Ellis said he is cutting his forecast foreasyJet's full-year pretax profit to 660 million pounds ($1.03billion) from 691 million pounds.
Shares in easyJet fell 8.5 percent to 16.78 pounds at 0926GMT, their lowest level for two months, though some analystssaid the price reaction was overdone.
"The scale of the reaction to the outlook seems somewhatexcessive," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Richard Hunter said.
EasyJet forecast revenue and profit growth for the fullyear, giving no further details other than forward bookingsbeing in line with last year and forecasting that its fuel billwould shrink by up to 120 million pounds because of lower oilprices.
Ryanair said in February that profit would rise onlymodestly in the year ahead as low oil prices help rivals to cutfares.
EasyJet, like other European airlines, has typically made aloss over winter months in which fewer people fly. But thecompany reported pretax profit of 7 million pounds for the sixmonths to March 31. That was at the upper end of its forecastfor between a loss of 5 million pounds and a profit of 10million pounds.
It said a lower fuel price and favourable currencymovements, as well as a strong finish to the ski season, helpedit to achieve the first-half profit.($1 = 0.6422 pounds) (Editing by John Stonestreet and David Goodman)
