EasyJet suffers £645million half year loss due to pandemic travel restrictions

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EasyJet suffers £645million half year loss due to pandemic travel restrictions and says it expects to fly just 15% of its capacity until June

  • Pre-tax loss for six months to March 31 widened from losses of £353m last year
  • It had losses of £701m against £193m a year ago, which was within expectations
  • The carrier said it added 105,000 seats on flights when green list was revealed
  • It said capacity will be 15 per cent of 2019 level, but will ramp this up from June

By James Gant For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:


EasyJet has sunk deeper into the red with half-year losses of £645million and said it still expects to fly just 15 per cent of its pre-pandemic flight programme until June.

The group’s pre-tax loss for the six months to March 31 widened from losses of £353million a year earlier.

On an underlying basis, it reported losses of £701million against £193million a year ago, which it said was within expectations.

The group’s pre-tax loss for the six months to March 31 widened from losses of £353million a year earlier (file photo)

The Luton-based carrier said it added more than 105,000 seats on flights when the Government announced the so-called green list countries – from which travellers will not need to quarantine on return.

It added that while capacity will still be only around 15 per cent of 2019 levels in its third quarter, it expects to ramp up its programme from June onwards.

Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet, said: ‘With leisure travel taking off in the UK again earlier this week where we are the largest operator to green list countries, and with so many European governments easing restrictions to open up travel again, we are ready to significantly ramp up our flying for the summer with a view to maximising the opportunities we see in Europe.

‘We have the ability to flex up quickly to operate 90 per cent of our current fleet over the peak summer period to match demand.

‘We know there is pent-up demand – we saw this again when green list countries were released and added more than 105,000 seats – and so we look forward to being able to help many more people to travel this summer.’