easyJet plc (LSE:EZJ) said it has seen some softening of bookings in its current quarter though it expects to be back to 2019 flight levels by this time next year.
The airline said it was too early to determine the impact of the new omicron strain of coronavirus on European air travel, but the spread of the delta variant has seen some bookings pushed back as new restrictions have been introduced.
Otherwise, October half-term, skiing and Christmas demand had been encouraging, said the airline, which increased its fleet size by 25 aircraft and added slots at Gatwick, Porto, Lisbon and Linate.
easyJet currently is planning for 65% of 2019 levels and 70% in the first three months of 2022 before rising to near 100% by the end of the 2022 fiscal year next September.
Looking ahead, Johan Lundgren, chief executive, said the airline was positioning itself for recovery with a radical reallocation of aircraft to higher contributing bases plus other initiatives such as shifting to ‘dynamic pricing’ in ancillaries such as baggage charges.
Lundgren added: “Having delivered FY'21 ahead of consensus, we have seen an encouraging start to this year with strong demand returning for peak winter holiday periods, coupled with increasing summer demand with Q422 capacity expected to be close to FY'19 levels.
"We are expanding our leadership positions at key bases such as Gatwick and Milan with additional slots and aircraft this year and have 118 aircraft on order with a further 59 purchase options and rights confirmed to further build on this in the years to come.”
Losses for the year to end September 2021 were £1.14bn, or slightly ahead of market forecasts, while the cash burn was also better than forecast at £36mln per week.
Net debt at the end of the year was £910mln with available liquidity of £4.4bn.