Soaring fuel bill strain for Easyjet

Jul 25 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

EASYJET, Liverpool’s second-biggest airline, showed the strain of rising costs yesterday after the company warned annual profits could be as much as 42% lower than last year.

It is faced with an increase of £185m in its annual fuel bill, although it hopes to offset more than 50% through revenue growth and cost savings.

That will leave the airline with pre-tax profits in the region of £110m and £120m for the year to the end of September, down from £191m last year.

This was 15% lower than some City forecasts and the market responded as shares fell 10%.

The Luton-based airline said it would cut capacity by 12% at Stansted this winter and vowed to be “relentless” in addressing costs and efficiency.

Easyjet said it had the flexibility to scale back its operations further if conditions deteriorated.

The company predicted the coming winter will be challenging for the whole airline sector due to higher fuel costs.

Easyjet operates 19 routes from Liverpool John Lennon Airport.