6 October 2010
easyJet September 2010 traffic statistics and
trading update for the year ended 30 September 2010
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Month ending September 2010 September 2009 Change
Passengers1 4,774,991 4,422,021 8.0%
Load Factor2 89.3% 88.1% 1.2pp
Rolling 12 months ending September 2010 September 2009 Change
Passengers1 48,754,366 45,164,279 7.9%
Load Factor2 87.0% 85.5% 1.5pp
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The commercial performance of easyJet continues to be robust and consequently total revenue per seat at constant currency for the quarter ended 30 September 2010 is now expected to increase by at least 6% compared to the same period last year. This reflects good performances across the network but particularly on UK to European beach and city routes.
easyJet now expects that the disruption to European airspace caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjalla volcano will impact easyJet financial results for the year to 30 September 2010 by around £5 million less than the £65 million forecast at the time of easyJet's third quarter IMS on 28 July 2010.
easyJet continues to make progress towards stabilising its operational performance despite the ongoing official and unofficial strike action by Air Traffic Controllers in France, Spain and Greece. This has continued to cause large scale disruption to passengers and is expected to cost easyJet up to £6 million in customer compensation for flights cancelled in September.
Overall, easyJet now expects to deliver a pre-tax profit for the year to 30 September 2010 slightly ahead of the £150 million that was the top end of our previous guidance range of £100 million to £150 million.
easyJet will give further details on its full year results for the year to 30 September 2010 and outlook on 16 November 2010.
Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive commented:
"This robust financial performance in a tough trading environment is a tribute to easyJet's unique blend of the lowest prices to the most convenient airports. I'd like to thank the whole team at easyJet for their commitment and hard work over what has been a very tough year in the airline industry.
The significant disruption caused to millions of passengers across Europe, however, demonstrates the urgent need for European governments and the European Commission to modernise Europe's outdated system of air traffic control providers and to end the ongoing strike action."
Ends
Enquiries should be directed to:
easyJet plc
Investor:
Rachel Kentleton, Investor Relations +44 (0) 7961 754 468
Media:
Oliver Aust, Corporate Communications +44 (0) 7985 891 586
1.Represents the number of earned seats flown. Earned seats include seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up because easyJet is a no-refund airline, and once a flight has departed a no-show customer is generally not entitled to change flights or seek a refund. Earned seats also include seats provided for promotional purposes and to staff for business travel.
2. Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers. No weighting of the load factor is carried out to recognise the effect of varying flight (or "stage") lengths.