Easyjet announces widening its half-year loss, affected by the war in the Middle East

The British airline EasyJet announced on Thursday that it had worsened its loss in the first half of its delayed financial year, penalized by the war in the Middle East which notably led to an increase in fuel prices.

The net loss amounts to 377 million pounds (436 million euros) over the six months ended at the end of March, an increase of 27% compared to last year, underlines the group in its press release.

The group’s turnover increased by 12%, to 3.954 billion pounds.

Despite “solid late reservations”, the results “were penalized by the conflict in the Middle East (started on February 28, editor’s note), via an increase in fuel costs and less visibility on future reservations”, explains the company.

The increase in kerosene costs resulted in additional spending of 25 million pounds in March, it details, adding that it has not noticed any disruption to its fuel supply.

The company warns that the second half of the year will also be affected by the conflict and that “overall reservations for the summer period are lagging behind their level at the same time last year”.

Despite these results and the uncertainty of the months to come, Easyjet’s managing director, Kenton Jarvis, believes that his company is capable of bouncing back after the conflict, then “further progress towards (its) medium-term financial objectives”.

“We achieved a solid operational performance in the first half, with sustained demand resulting in a load factor of 90%, up 2 points compared to last year,” he insists.

It also intends to rely on the expansion of easyJet holidays, the group’s stay offer, which has been growing strongly in recent months.

This activity “continued to record strong demand, with a number of customers up 22% year-on-year”, notes the company.