EasyJet won't axe flights from Bristol despite profit losses
Budget airline easyJet says it has no plans to axe further flights from Bristol International Airport despite posting losses of almost £130 million in six months.
The firm, which operates 39 different routes from Lulsgate, announced yesterday that its losses had more than doubled to £129.8m in the six months to March 31, compared with £48.4m a year ago. The carrier said the loss had been driven by the soaring cost of fuel and the fact that Easter was later this year.
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Bristol International Airport
But easyJet boss Andy Harrison said current fuel prices and exchange rates would mean the airline will make a profit over the year.
Mr Harrison said: "EasyJet is financially strong. It has good and well-established market positions.
"The board remains confident in easyJet's future prospects."
The growth of budget airlines has been a key factor in the success of Bristol International Airport, which is easyJet's third largest hub after Gatwick and Luton.
But falling demand for air travel in the face of the credit crunch saw easyJet cut a route to Warsaw in November. In April, German national carrier Lufthansa announced it was stopping its flights to Frankfurt from Lulsgate, blaming half-empty flights on the decision.
Last month, it emerged the number of people using Bristol airport has dropped by 300,000 since the start of 2009.
In the first three months of this year, 1,029,786 people used the airport – a 21 per cent drop on the 1.30 million travellers who used Lulsgate over the same period in 2008.
People travelling through the airport in March dropped by a total of 23 per cent compared to March 2008 – the fifth month in a row passenger numbers have fallen.
The airport is expected to submit its £100m planning application for expansion to North Somerset Council later this month.
A spokesman refused to confirm or deny reports that Lulsgate is up for sale by Australian owner Macquarie.
He said: "EasyJet has played an important role in increasing choice for air travellers from the South West. The airline's route network includes leisure and business destinations, and is also well-used by inbound visitors to Bristol from other parts of the UK and Europe.
"New routes to Corsica and Corfu will add to what is expected to be a busy summer at Bristol airport."
2 Comments
by Andy, Bristol
Thursday, May 07 2009, 12:26PM
“Hi MendipMan. I always read your posts as they are well informed and well written. You often comment on Airport stories and would just like to know how you know about Ryanair increasing their route network in July? I fully believe you and I for one, really hope they do and look forward to seeing where the new destinations are.
Doing my bit for the airport, I am flying from there over the weekend!”
by MendipMan, Wurzel Country
Thursday, May 07 2009, 11:09AM
“easyJet hedged the price of its fuel last year when oil was near its historical height. After that the price of oil collapsed leaving the airline paying over the odds.
As for ceasing routes, easyJet, like most airlines especially 'budget' ones, continually reviews its routes. Warsaw was dropped from Bristol at the time easyJet dropped most of its routes from other airports to the Polish capital because that airport put up its charges to an unacceptable degree (to the airline).
Passenger loads on the Bristol-Warsaw route were high (the figures are in the public domain) but the increased charges levied by Warsaw Airport meant yields became unattractive to the airline - all this has been reported in the aviation press.
In the past easyJet has tried Copenhagen, Bilbao, Hamburg, Rijeka and Gdansk from Bristol and subsequently dropped them, usually because of increased airport charges at the overseas end, although a couple of them did not prove popular enough with punters.
easyJet will then try new routes such as the Corfu and Bastia routes that are commencing this summer.
easyJet is still not operating out of Bristol, or from most other airports, to the degree it did at the height of last summer when it required twelve based Airbus A319 aircraft at Bristol to service its operations schedule. At the moment it can get by with ten.
As for Bristol Airport, Ryanair is to increase its presence there and will commence around a dozen new routes in July.”