LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Britain's easyJet underlined its growing advantage over rivals such as Ryanair in the low-cost sector on Thursday, raising its outlookdue to a strategy of adding flights on routes where rivals havecut back.
The Luton, southern England-based firm said it now expectedpretax profit for the 12 months to Sept. 30 of 470-480 millionpounds ($763-779 million) compared with its previous guidance of450-480 million pounds.
The upbeat assessment stands in contrast to that given lastmonth by Ryanair, Europe's biggest budget airline, whichwarned on annual profit, blaming lower demand across thecontinent and currency issues.
easyJet said it expected revenue per seat at constantcurrency to increase about 6 percent in the three months toSept. 30, driven by strong demand in July and August, takingsecond half growth also to 6 percent.
Cost per seat, excluding fuel growth and at constantcurrency, was forecast up 4 percent, mainly reflecting highercharges at regulated airports.
Looking further out easyJet said a quarter of seats for thefirst half of the year to Sept. 30 2014 had been sold, in linewith the prior year.
However, it forecast an increase in its year-on-year fuelbill for the first half of the 2013-14 year of 20-30 millionpounds and a negative exchange rate impact of 10 million pounds.
Shares in easyJet were up 1.8 percent at 1,336 pence at 0746 GMT, valuing the business at about 5.2 billion pounds.
easyJet (EZJ)