Tag Archives: 3088

EasyJet supports the decisions of CAA for London’s airports

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has issued this statement concerning recent decisions by the CAA concerning the future of London’s airports:

“easyJet welcomes the CAA’s decision that Gatwick Airport has substantial market power and that as a consequence Gatwick needs continued regulation through an airport licence.

“easyJet also welcomes the significant changes the CAA has made to the assumptions on passenger growth and cost of capital which have led to a lowering of its estimate of fair airport charges from RPI +1.6% to RPI – 1.6%.

“easyJet supports the CAA’s endorsement of Gatwick’s Commitments proposal. However, it is now up to Gatwick Airport to show that this more commercial approach can deliver lower charges and improved service for airlines and their passengers.

“easyJet welcomes the inclusion of the costs of the any second runway in the licence so that these can be scrutinised by the regulator.

“easyJet also welcomes CAA’s announcement that robust plans to deliver operational resilience in major disruption will also be under CAA regulatory oversight.

“Finally, easyJet is supportive of the CAA’s approach to Stansted airport which under new ownership has shown itself willing to take a more commercial approach to airlines which will also benefit passengers.”

In other news, the company is planning to drop the new Southend-Edinburgh route on June 15, 2014 according to Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZBR (msn 3088) in the special “Airbus 100” holds short of the runway at London’s Gatwick Airport.

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet cuts its pretax loss in the first half to $93 million

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has reported its first half financial results:

A. HIGHLIGHTS

	2013	2012	Change
Total revenue (£ million)	1,601	1,465	9.3%
Loss before tax (£ million)	(61)	(112)	45.5%
Pre-tax margin (%)	(3.8)	(7.6)	+3.8ppt
Loss per share – basic (pence)	(12.0)	(21.2)	43.4%
Return on capital employed (%)¹	(0.9)	(2.8)	+1.9ppt

Revenue initiatives and the focus on maintaining EasyJet’s cost advantage, combined with competitor capacity reductions and the timing of Easter have enabled easyJet to reduce its first half pre-tax loss year on year by £51 million to £61 million.

EasyJet ended the first half of the financial year with £1,194 million of cash, a decrease of £17 million against last year. Net cash as at 31 March 2013 was £433 million compared to £42 million at 31 March 2012.

On 1 May 2013, John Barton succeeded Sir Mike Rake as easyJet Chairman. The whole team at easyJet wishes to note its thanks for Sir Mike Rake’s strong leadership of the Board for three years during which easyJet’s total shareholder return was 233%.

Progress against strategic objectives:

Drive demand, conversion and yields across Europe

Total revenue per seat increased by 8.6% year on year on a constant currency basis, and by 5.8% per seat on a reported basis, to £53.39 as the half year benefited from an early Easter, competitor capacity retrenchment, returns focused changes to EasyJet’s network and improvements to its revenue management system.
Average load factors increased by 1.7 percentage points to 88.6% whilst capacity grew by 3.3% to 30 million seats.

Maintain cost advantage

Cost per seat excluding fuel grew by 3.4% on a constant currency basis and by 3.1% on a reported basis to £38.89. Year on year cost increases were largely driven by increased charges at regulated airports and from higher weather related disruption and de-icing costs.
EasyJet lean delivered an incremental £25 million of savings in the period.

Build strong number 1 and 2 network positions

Successful deployment of capacity from Madrid base which was exited in December 2012 to strengthen easyJet’s position in Edinburgh, Manchester, Gatwick, Geneva, Lisbon and Lyon.

Disciplined use of capital

In the six months to 31 March 2013, EasyJet has returned £85 million or 21.5 pence per share to shareholders through the increased payment of ordinary dividend, at three times earnings cover.
Further to the January 2013 IMS, easyJet has signed sale and operating leaseback agreements for 12 new A320 and 12 of the oldest A319 aircraft.
Significant improvements have been made in underperforming routes increasing overall network returns.
easyJet is in the final stages of the commercial evaluation of the next generation of short-haul engine technology. The process has been subject to high standards of governance. In the event that the Board of easyJet concludes that an order will be in the interest of all shareholders, easyJet will bring a proposal to shareholders that will cover both the next generation of deliveries, which are likely to be after 2017, and a plan for the bridging period from 2015 to 2017.

Commenting on the results, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive said:

“EasyJet delivered a strong first half performance, demonstrating the Company’s structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both legacy and low cost competition, and a continuing resilience against a challenging European macro-economic environment.

Our performance reflects measurable progress against EasyJet’s four key strategic objectives that have been amply demonstrated by a significant reduction in the loss for the first half and significant improvement in ROCE over the same period.

Whilst there is always the potential for unexpected events to impact short term financial performance, the outlook for the second half of the financial year combined with the strong reduction in first half losses means that EasyJet expects to deliver improved returns and profitability for the year ending 30 September 2013.”

In other news, the company is nearing a decision to order the re-engined Airbus A320neo or the Boeing 737 MAX.

Read the full story and analysis by Reuters: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZBR (msn 3088) with the special Airbus 100 markings stops at Paris (CDG).

EasyJet (UK):

easyJet to launch 10 new routes from London’s airports in 2013

easyJet (UK) (London-Luton) has announced today that it will be introducing ten new routes from the summer of 2013 across the four London airports it operates from – London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted and London Southend.

The Russian capital Moscow, Greek city Kalamata, along with the Greek island of Mykonos and Spanish city of Santiago join other European city break favorites Sofia, Berlin and Krakow as well as the Sardinian resort of Olbia. The further afield destinations Sharm El Sheikh and Marrakech will also feature from additional easyJet London bases.

The route expansion means that more than 316,000 affordable seats have been added to easyJet’s 2013 Summer schedule which now extends to a total of 340 routes from the UK.

Year-round flights from London Stansted to Sharm el Sheik, Marrakech and Sofia are available from just £86.99 and £30.99 respectively and will significantly strengthen and expand the range of destinations on offer from London Stansted Airport.

New summer routes for London Luton Airport include Greek island Mykonos and Sardinian treasure Olbia, while the German city of Berlin and Polish city of Krakow will now fly year-round from London Southend Airport with fares starting from £22.99*. The new routes at Southend will be served by an additional aircraft at the airport.

The airline has today announced expansion plans which will see the airline begin flying to the popular Greek resort of Mykonos and the historic Sardinian resort of Olbia, from the summer of 2013 from Luton Airport.

EasyJet will fly to the Greek resort of Mykonos twice a week from London Luton Airport with fares starting from as little as £32.99* and the inaugural flight taking off on April 26, 2013.

Mykonos is a Greek island which forms part of the Cyclades and lies between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. A sun worshipper’s paradise, the island is also awash with cultural heritage with Petros the Pelican and the Mykonos Windmills being two of the most recognized landmarks of Mykonos.

The new route to Olbia will operate twice a week with fares starting from £30.99* and inaugural flights taking off from May 15, 2013. Olbia is the gateway to the beautiful white beaches of the northeast Sardinian coast and the glittering Costa Smeralda. Once a little fishing village, it has grown to become Sardinia’s busiest ferry port and a haven for food lovers.

In other news, easyJet, announced today that it will reach the landmark of flying more than 100 routes from London Gatwick Airport.

The airline also revealed last week that it has been successfully awarded the rights to fly between London Gatwick – easyJet’s largest base, and Moscow – a key business and leisure destination with fares starting from as little as £67.00*. EasyJet will operate an Airbus A320 on two services a day between London Gatwick and Moscow Domodedovo airport and expects to fly over 230,000 passengers in its first year of operations alone with tickets on sale in the coming months. Flights will start from next Spring.

EasyJet’s Gatwick route expansion continues with the launch of flights between London Gatwick and Kalamata in Greece, as well as the Spanish city of Santiago from the summer of 2013. The airline will fly to Kalamata twice a week, with fares starting from £34.99*. This is easyJet’s first time flying to the Greek city and the inaugural flight will take off from London Gatwick on July 6, 2012. EasyJet’s new route to the historic Spanish city of Santiago will see the airline flying to the beautiful city three times a week, with fares starting from £32.99* and the inaugural flight departs on June 18, 2013.

* one way, including taxes based on two people travelling on the same booking.

Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Airbus A319-111 G-EZBR (msn 3088) taxies past the camera at Salzburg, Austria. The airliner wears the special “Airbus 100” logo to commemorate the delivery of the 100th Airbus aircraft.

easyJet (UK):