Luton Airport based Easyjet makes £24m loss as pound falls in value

Yesterday the Luton Airport based firm published its results for the six months up to the end of March, which showed losses of £24m compared to a £7m profit in the first half of 2015.

Despite this easyJet has said that the performance is “robust” and “in line with expectations”, given a fall in the value of the pound and “well publicised external events” like the terror attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Paris and Brussels.

Speaking to the Luton News, easyJet commercial director Neil Slaven said that without currency fluctuations the airline would have posted a half-yearly profit of £5m.

He added: “Airlines typically don’t make profits in the winter and we are pretty much where we were last year – it is a strong set of results given that there have been alot of external impacts.

“Because of the change in value of the pound, which has fallen against the euro, there has been a negative impact on trading...but we are very positive with these set of results.”

Despite the losses easyJet posted a strong boost in the amount of passengers it carries – which is up 2.1 million year on year.

Its total revenue also increased to £1.7 billion.

Mr Slaven said: “We are really pleased with the passenger figures, it has been a really strong performance in our key markets.

“It is a clear demonstration of the strength of our network and where we fly.”

easyJet expects passenger figures to soar even higher once the redevelopment of Luton Airport is completed.

Mr Slaven added: “It is incredibly important to the airport, the future of the town and to easyJet at Luton.

“The redevelopment has given us the confidence to grow ourselves at Luton – we are putting more into Luton than any other base.

“In the past 12 months we have opened up new routes and increased the frequencey on our most popular routes.”