easyJet Lifts Forecast for First Half

easyJet the budget airline based in Britain upgraded its forecast for the first half by 25% Tuesday, which sent its shares near an all-time high. This followed tight cost cutting measures and huge popularity of is seating program.

easyJet said it was expecting a loss pretax of between $91 million and $107 million, which was an improvement of a previous forecast of a loss of between $115 million and $147 million.

The airline, which, as its rivals does, traditionally has losses during the winter as fewer people fly. The airline reported a $100 million loss in 2012-13 for the same period.

The upgrade to the forecast was helped due to benign weather that meant there were fewer disruptions that were weather related, said the airline.

easyJet has in the past 12 months taken more share from rival Ryanair through the introduction of measures like allocated seating as well as allowing passengers the chance to change flights to better appeal to the business traveler.

Shares of easyJet have increased by over 60% during the past 12 months. In early premarket trading, the shares were up 4.4% putting them close to their all-time high that was reached in early March of this year.

Airline analysts said although the airline did not comment on its fiscal second half, an upgrade was likely to be the consensus for their forecasts.

Carolyn McCall the CEO at easyJet said the airline’s upgrade show the company’s structural advantage it held not just against other low cost airlines like Ryanair, but the other legacy carriers.

The former entities that were state-owned like Lufthansa in Germany are fighting against the carriers that are low-cost to keep market share across Europe in the sector of short-haul

Revenue per each seat during the six-month frame should rise by 1.5% said easyJet, which was higher than a January forecast thanks to a boost received from the allocated seating program and other airline initiatives.

The improvement forecast by easyJet for the first half comes even though it was hit by additional fuel costs compared to the same time during 2012-13.

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.