British low-cost airline EasyJet slashed its first-half losses as a collapse of rivals boosted passenger numbers, but the performance was weighed down by integration costs from Air Berlin assets.
Losses after tax shrank to £54 million (Dh268.5m) in the first half of the group's financial year or six months to March, EasyJet said in a trading update.
That compared with a deeper loss of £192m in the same period of the previous year.
Sales surged by a fifth to £2.2 billion as it reaped the benefits from the collapse of European rivals including Alitalia and Monarch, and a flight cancellations crisis at Ireland's Ryanair.
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Passenger numbers leapt three million to 36.8 million, helped by extra customers from the purchase of Berlin's Tegel Airport from bankrupt German carrier Air Berlin.
Stripping out Tegel integration costs, EasyJet added that pre-tax profit hit £8m in the first half. That contrasted sharply with a loss of £212m last time around.
"EasyJet has delivered an excellent performance reporting a profit of £8m, one of our best results ever in the winter trading period," said newly-installed chief executive Johan Lundgren.
"Our performance was helped by the reductions in capacity from other airlines but was also driven by the strength of the easyJet brand," added Mr Lundgren, who took the reins last December from Carolyn McCall.
Mr Lundgren, the former deputy of TUI travel group, added that EasyJet will plough more investment into its holidays business.
Many airlines usually post losses over the period because it covers the winter months, when demand is traditionally weak.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
As You Were
Liam Gallagher
(Warner Bros)
The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
