In its statement for its full-year financial results the airline said revenue trends in the first quarter were “encouraging, primarily as a result of some capacity leaving the market”.
This year has seen the demise of Monarch, Alitalia and Air Berlin. EasyJet acquired part of Air Berlin’s operations at Berlin Tegel airport for a purchase consideration of €40 million of in October.
The airline said it will continue its strategy of “purposeful investment to drive profitable growth to secure leading positions at primary airports” and plans to grow capacity by around 6% for the 2018 financial year, excluding any prospective Air Berlin capacity.
That said full-year 2017 pre-tax profits at easyJet dropped 17.3% as the airline weathered a currency hit of £101 million.
The carrier said its headline profit before tax of £408 million for the year ending September 30, demonstrated the “resilience of easyJet’s business model”.
In the 2017 financial year the airline flew 80.2 million passengers (2016: 73.1 million), with the headline profit before tax for the year of £408 million a decrease of £86 million from a restated headline profit before tax of £494 million last year.
Earlier this month easyJet announced the appointment of former Tui Group deputy chief executive Johan Lundgren as its new chief executive as replacement to Carolyn McCall.
He will take up his position on December 1, with McCall stepping down on November 30.
McCall said of the financial results: “EasyJet delivered a robust performance during a difficult year for the aviation industry, flying a record 80 million passengers at our highest ever annual load factor of 92.6% whilst growing capacity by 8.5% and revenues by over 8.1% to more than £5 billion.
“Our planned approach of achieving number one or two positions at Europe’s leading airports, friendly and efficient customer service and a continuous focus on sustainable cost control has put easyJet at a strategic advantage during a period when there have been bankruptcies and some airlines have struggled operationally.
“EasyJet’s model is resilient and sustainable and we now have a huge amount of positive momentum which will enable the airline to continue to grow profitably.
“On a personal note, this will be my final set of results as chief executive and I would like to thank all of easyJet’s people who have contributed so much to easyJet’s success story.”
