EasyJet has reaffirmed its expectation to deliver fullyear 2019 headline profit before tax of between £420 million and £430 million.
EasyJet's numbers for the full year increased by 8.6% to 96 million, driven by an increase in capacity of 10.3% to 105 million seats. Load factor for the full year will decrease by 1.4 percentage points to 91.5%.
Total revenue per seat at constant currency for the full year will decrease by circa 2.7%. Total revenue per seat at constant currency for the second half will increase by circa 0.8%, an outperformance compared to its previous guidance.
The group has said that the drivers of this outperformance are the yield optimisation self-help initiatives delivered in the fourth quarter and increased demand due to strikes at British Airways and Ryanair.
EasyJet's total fuel cost for full year 2019 is expected to be around £1.4 million, which includes an adverse impact of foreign exchange and increased Emissions Trading System (ETS) costs.
Total headline foreign exchange will have a year-on-year adverse impact of around £14 million.
Commenting; Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive said: "EasyJet has continued to perform in line with expectations, despite challenging market conditions.
"As a result of our self-help initiatives and the increased demand due to disruption at British Airways and Ryanair, we anticipate achieving headline profit before tax for the full year 2019 of between £420 million and £430 million, in the upper half of our previous guidance range.
"Our implementation of initiatives in the fourth quarter to optimise yield has led to solid revenue performance with total revenue per seat at constant currency set to increase for the full year. We have continued to invest in operational resilience, with the programme successfully reducing the impact of disruption on our operations. As a result, we expect to report a fall in headline cost per seat for the year, excluding fuel at constant currency.
"I would like to thank all our people for their continued tireless work in delivering the warmest welcome in the sky to all our customers."