Easyjet has launched a flexible fare targeting business travellers on the same day it reported a £154 million profit before tax.
The airline said the fare will give passengers unlimited flexibility to change their flights for up to two hours before scheduled departure times.
In an announcement this morning, Easyjet said bookers could make “unlimited” changes within a four-week time window, one week before and up to three weeks after the original booked travel date.
Carolyn McCall, Easyjet’s chief executive, said the business was still seeing increasing numbers of business travellers.
The fares will made available through all global distribution systems (GDSs) and self-booking tools, and will later be available on the airline’s website.
Speaking about Easyjet’s financial results, McCall said: “[The] solid financial performance in a tough trading environment demonstrates that the business model is strong.”
The airline said passenger numbers were up 7.9% to 48.8 million, and load factors increased by 1.5 percentage points to 87%.
Within its financial statement, Easyjet said the ash cloud crisis in spring this year cost the business £27.3 million.
Easyjet’s results at a glance
|
2010
|
2009
|
Change
|
Total revenue (£ million)
|
2,973.1
|
2,666.8
|
+11.5%
|
Profit before tax – reported (£ million)
|
154.0
|
54.7
|
+181.5%
|
Profit before tax – underlying (£ million) 1
|
188.3
|
43.7
|
+330.9%
|
Pre tax margin – underlying (%) 1
|
6.3
|
1.6
|
+4.7ppt
|
Return on equity (%)
|
8.6
|
5.5
|
+3.1ppt
|
Return on capital employed (%)2
|
8.8
|
4.0
|
+4.8ppt
|
Basic EPS (pence)
|
28.4p
|
16.9p
|
+68.0%
|
www.easyjet.com