(Adds CEO quotes, details, background)
By Laurence Frost and Paul Sandle
LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - EasyJet said it was
poised to ramp up summer flight schedules with an easing of
COVID-19 restrictions, but the low-cost airline warned that late
announcement of travel rules reduced visibility as it reported a
wider half-year loss.
EasyJet expects to operate about 15% of pre-crisis capacity
in the current April-June quarter, it said on Thursday, before
returning furloughed crews for a much-anticipated summer surge.
"We have the ability to flex up quickly to operate 90% of
our current fleet over the peak summer period to match demand,"
Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said in the airline's results
statement.
As the peak season approaches, travel firms are pushing
governments to drop quarantines and other curbs for vaccinated
passengers and lower-risk destinations.
Britain's "green list" of unrestricted countries is up for
review in coming weeks, but the government has warned that the
highly contagious coronavirus variant first detected in India
may yet slow the pace of reopening.
EasyJet's pretax loss widened to 701 million pounds ($990
million) in the six months ending March 31, from 193 million in
the year-earlier period affected only partially by the pandemic.
Revenue fell 90% to 240 million pounds on a similarly sharp
decline in passenger numbers to 4.1 million.
Underlining the summer doubts, the airline gave no firm
capacity plan for its July-September fourth quarter.
"Given the continued level of short-term uncertainty it
would not be appropriate to provide any further financial
guidance," it said. The carrier said its cost-cutting programme
was on track to save 500 million pounds this year.
EasyJet's shares, which have risen 18% since the start of
2021, were down 2.5% in early trading.
Conditions are nonetheless ripe for a strong summer rebound.
EasyJet said it increased capacity by more than 105,000 seats
after publication of the UK green list - which triggered a
UK-Portugal bookings spike.
"We know there is pent-up demand," CEO Lundgren said.
($1 = 0.7087 pounds)
(Reporting by Laurence Frost in Paris and Paul Sandle in
London; editing by Michael Holden and Susan Fenton)
easyJet (EZJ)
