Easyjet has warned of a £90 million hit in the next financial year due to a weakened pound – an increase of £35 million from its previous estimate in July.
According to the airline’s full-year financial statement it expects a profit of between $490 million and £495 million for its financial year, which ended September 30. That would be down 28 per cent on the £686 million annual profit it made in 2015.
EasyJet issued a profit warning in June - the budget carrier saying then it expected revenue in the second half of the current year to fall as a result of the "additional economic and consumer uncertainty [that] is likely this summer ... following the outcome of the EU referendum".
"The current environment is tough for all airlines, but history shows that at times like this, the strongest airlines become stronger," said Carolyn McCall, Easyjet chief executive.
She added: "The current environment is tough for all airlines, but history shows that at times like this, the strongest airlines become stronger.”
Despite the “difficult operating environment” for all European airlines, Easyjet saw passenger numbers grow to a record 22 million for the three months to September. It added the past three months had been affected by major disruption, exchange rate fluctuations, terrorist events and the low cost of fuel continuing to drive increased market capacity.
In the next financial year capacity is expected to grow by around d 8 per cent, with around 45 per cent of seats sold for the first quarter.
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