Easyjet wants to increase its flight offer for the summer

The British low-cost airline Easyjet wants to increase its flight offer for the summer in view of relaxed travel restrictions and growing passenger numbers. In the months of July to September, the offered capacity should reach up to 60 percent of the level from 2019, announced the competitor of Europe's largest low-cost airline Ryanair. In the past third quarter (until the end of June) of its financial year, Easyjet's flight offer was only 17 percent of the pre-crisis level on average. In the third quarter of the fiscal year, Easyjet posted a loss of 318 million British pounds (370 million euros) before taxes and special items, as the company announced on the basis of preliminary figures. A year earlier, the minus had been even higher at around 347 million pounds after the travel restrictions as a result of the corona pandemic had largely brought the flight business in Europe to a standstill. In the past few months, however, the number of passengers has recently increased from month to month. While Easyjet had around 524,000 passengers in April, it was already 870,000 in May and almost 1.6 million in June. In view of the uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, customers booked significantly more quickly, it said. According to its own information, Easyjet has only sold 49 percent of its tickets for the current quarter. Two years ago, at this point in time, it was already 65 percent. Customers are particularly careful with flights to and from the UK. The highly contagious Delta variant is still rampant in the UK and is rapidly driving up the number of infections. In addition, most people entering from abroad must continue to be quarantined for at least five days - only those arriving from a handful of countries on the so-called "green list" and fully vaccinated people residing in the UK can bypass the quarantine. However, they too must do a PCR test at their own expense on the second day after entering the country. This means that the island is not an attractive travel destination for foreign tourists for the time being, and trips abroad remain expensive and complicated for many locals.