LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - British low-cost airline easyJet lifted its annual profit forecast, after it benefitedfrom lower than expected fuel costs, favourable exchange ratemoves and a two-week strike at rival airline Air France-KLM.
The company said it now expected to report annual pretaxprofit in the range of 575 million pounds to 580 millionpounds($928-$936 million) compared to the 545 million to 570million pounds level which it had guided at the time of itsthird quarter results in July.
Ahead of Friday's update, the consensus analyst forecast wasfor easyJet to report pretax profit of 566 million pounds in theyear to the end of September, according to Reuters data.
A strike by Air France pilots is expected to have added 5million pounds to the company's revenues as customers switchedonto its planes, easyJet said on Friday in a preclose statementahead of its full-year results due on Nov. 18.(1 US dollar = 0.6197 British pound) (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by James Davey)
easyJet (EZJ)