Low-cost airline easyJet said this morning it expects to see its pre-tax profit for the full year increase by between 40 to 50 per cent.
In a first quarter trading update out today, easyJet said its total revenue in the three months to Dec was up 14.9 per cent year-on-year to £366.2 million sterling. The carrier said its total revenue per seat for the quarter was up 4 per cent to £36.8 million.
Looking ahead to the second quarter, the airline said it anticipates a slight increase in passenger revenue per seat compared with the same period last year, with ancillary revenues continuing to grow ahead of capacity.
It expects a pre-tax margin improvement in the region of 3-4 per cent for the first half.
In spite of the fall in fuel prices from the summer highs, easyJet's average fuel cost after hedging for the first half will be about $650 per metric tonne.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, easyJet said passenger numbers for January rose 11.1 per cent on the same period last year. It carried 2.57 million passengers last month.
The airline's load factor for January was also up, by 0.7 percentage points, to 74.9 per cent, easyJet said.