REG-easyJet plc Trading statement for the six months ended 31 March 2022

easyJetAnnouncement

12/04/2022 07:15

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   easyJet plc (EZJ)

   12-Apr-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BST
   Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group.
   The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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   12 April 2022

                                        

                                  easyJet plc

            Trading statement for the six months ended 31 March 2022

                                        

    H1 losses reduced year on year, ahead of market expectations, driven by
               improved trading and boosted by self-help measures

     • Summer plans to reach near 2019 capacity unchanged
     • Strong, sustained recovery in trading since the relaxation of travel
       restrictions, reflecting the pent-up demand coming out of the pandemic
     • 64% of H2 fuel hedged at $571 per metric tonne, reducing exposure to
       current fuel price
     • Outperformed H1 expectations despite challenges from Omicron and
       rising fuel prices

    

   Summary

   First half losses have reduced year on year, outperforming expectations,
   as self-help measures including network optimisation, ancillary products,
   and a continued cost focus deliver. This result is despite ongoing
   challenges from Covid-19, rising fuel prices, the removal of furlough
   support and incremental costs associated with ramping up operations.

    

   easyJet has ramped up capacity throughout the quarter, operating at 80% of
   FY19 capacity in March. Since the announcement to remove UK travel
   restrictions on 24 January, we have seen a strong and sustained recovery
   in trading. Summer bookings for the last six weeks have tracked ahead of
   the same period in FY19 as customers book closer to departure.

   Everyone at easyJet has been deeply shocked and saddened by the Russian
   invasion of Ukraine and we have looked at the best ways we can directly
   support those affected. We have been working closely with the UN refugee
   agency UNHCR, to provide seats on flights across our network as well as
   working with our charity partner UNICEF to support their work on the
   ground as part of the response effort.

   easyJet has very little exposure in Eastern Europe, with no routes into
   Ukraine, Russia or Belarus. Our nearest network points are Budapest in
   Hungary and Krakow in Poland which only account for 1.4% of our total
   capacity. Additionally, due to our geographical footprint, none of our
   flight routes need to operate into Ukrainian, Belarusian or Russian
   airspace, and therefore we are not exposed to re-routing and increased
   fuel burn.

   Commenting, Johan Lundgren, easyJet Chief Executive said:

   "easyJet's performance in the second quarter has been driven by improved
   trading following the UK Government's decision to relax testing
   restrictions with an extra boost from self-help measures which saw us
   outperform market expectations. 

   "Since travel restrictions were removed, easyJet has seen a strong
   recovery in trading which has been sustained, resulting in a positive
   outlook for Easter and beyond, with daily booking volumes for summer
   currently tracking ahead of those at the same time in FY19. 

    "We remain confident in our plans which will see us reaching near 2019
   flying levels for this summer and emerge as one of the winners in the
   recovery." 

    

   Bookings

   Since the announcement to remove UK travel restrictions on 24 January, we
   have seen a strong and sustained recovery resulting in the proportion of
   bookings between the UK and EU now being broadly equal, which is where we
   would expect it to be based on our capacity allocation, compared to last
   year when the split reached around 70:30 EU vs UK with the strictest
   restrictions in place within the UK.

   We continue to see strong demand for Q4, especially on leisure routes
   where easyJet will be the biggest it has ever been. This has been boosted
   by the addition of a further five aircraft worth of slots in Greece.
   easyJet will be the largest carrier into the main Greek Islands this
   summer.

   easyJet holidays also continues to strengthen its position as a
   significant player in the holidays market, with over 70% of the programme
   already sold and at significantly stronger margins compared to 2019.

   Capacity

   During Q2 easyJet flew 67% of FY19 capacity in line with our expectations.
   Our capacity forecasting has been accurate and disciplined throughout the
   pandemic.

    

   Load factor for Q2 was 78%, due to the impact that Omicron had on
   customers' confidence and ability to travel during the early part of the
   quarter. Load factor has built back during the second quarter as travel
   restrictions eased across the network.

    

   Passenger1 numbers in Q2 increased to 11.5 million (Q2 FY21: 1.2 million).

    

                             January                March     Q2     Q2
                                     February 2022
                                2022                 2022   FY22   FY21
   Number of flights          18,857        26,709 36,681 82,247 11,672
   Peak operating aircraft       223           223    272    272    161
                                                                       
   Passengers (thousand) 1     2,301         3,904  5,340 11,545  1,228
                                                                       
   Seats flown (thousand) 2    3,398         4,831  6,615 14,844  2,062
   % of FY'19 capacity flown     50%           68%    80%    67%     9%
                                                                       
   Load factor 3                 68%           81%    81%    78%    60%

    

   Financials

   Total group revenue and headline costs for the first half are expected to
   be around £1,500 million and around £2,050 million respectively. Pricing
   remained competitive during the first half, although easyJet's ancillary
   products continue to deliver, with revenue per seat sold of £19.56 (£12.47
   in H1'19), demonstrating the continued success of easyJet's ancillary
   products.

    

   easyJet continues to have one of the strongest, investment grade, balance
   sheets in European Aviation. As at 31 March 2022 our net debt position was
   c.£0.6 billion (30 September 2021: £0.9 billion) including cash and cash
   equivalents and money market deposits of c.£3.5 billion.

    

   Sale and leaseback

   easyJet has entered into sale and leaseback transactions for 10 A319s,
   generating total gross cash proceeds of $120 million and a loss of c.£20
   million during the six months to 31 March. easyJet entered into these
   transactions as part of the ongoing strategy to manage residual value
   risk.

    

   Current operations

   easyJet has flown 94% of the planned schedule in the last seven days with
   daily flight volumes around 1,500 per day being 4x higher than the same
   point last year. This is despite the recent increase in the number of crew
   testing positive for Covid-19, together with normal operational disruption
   such as weather and ATC delays. We have proactively managed this in
   advance by making pre-emptive cancellations as early as possible, enabling
   the majority of our customers to rebook onto flights departing the same
   day.

   Outlook

   easyJet expects to report a group headline loss before tax in the range of
   £535 million and £565 million for the six months ended 31 March 2022.

    

   easyJet expects Q3 capacity to be c.90% of Q3 2019 levels. Q4 FY22
   capacity on sale remains at near Q4 2019 levels.

    

   easyJet achieved an average effective fuel price in H1 FY22 of c.US$599
   per metric tonne.

   easyJet is currently c.64% hedged for fuel in H2 of FY22 at c.US$571 per
   metric tonne, c.42% hedged for H1 FY23 at c.US$654 and c.15% hedged for H2
   FY23 at c.US$766. The spot price on 11 April 2022 was around US$1,100.

    

   For further details please contact easyJet plc:

   Institutional investors and analysts:

   Michael Barker   Investor Relations   +44 (0) 7985 890 939
   Adrian Talbot    Investor Relations   +44 (0) 7971 592 373

    

   Media:   

   Anna Knowles    Corporate Communications +44 (0) 7985 873 313
   Edward Simpkins Finsbury                 +44 (0) 7947 740 551 / (0) 207
                                            251 3801
   Dorothy Burwell Finsbury                 +44 (0) 7733 294 930 / (0) 207
                                            251 3801

    

   A copy of this Trading Statement is available at
    1 http://corporate.easyjet.com/investors

    

   Notes

    1. Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats include
       seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up as easyJet
       is a no-refund airline, and once a flight has departed a no-show
       customer is generally not entitled to change flights or seek a refund.
       Earned seats also include seats provided for promotional purposes and
       to staff for business travel.
    2. Capacity based on actual number of seats flown.
    3. Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of
       seats available for passengers. No weighting of the load factor is
       carried out to recognise the effect of varying flight (or "sector")
       lengths.

    

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   ISIN:          GB00B7KR2P84
   Category Code: TST
   TIDM:          EZJ
   LEI Code:      2138001S47XKWIB7TH90
   Sequence No.:  154954
   EQS News ID:   1325677


    
   End of Announcement EQS News Service

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