Budget airline takes £28m hit

LIVERPOOL John Lennon Airport’s largest carrier easyJet is braced for a £28m dip in profits after a turbulent two months.

Shares fell 19% and the budget airline issued a profits warning as it also expected to be hit by the aftershock of the Brexit vote.

Shares plummeted from 1313p to 1061p with easyJet blaming strikes in France in the last eight weeks in addition to severe weather.

Congestion at Gatwick also resulted in more than 1,000 cancellations, with the EgyptAir disaster also affecting demand.

In a statement released on the Stock Exchange the company said: “The operating environment for all European airlines in May and June has been extremely challenging.

“These incidents, together with the EgyptAir tragedy, resulted in some drop off in consumer demand leading to lower yield and have impacted third quarter profit before tax by approximately £28m and have had a negative impact on third quarter revenue per seat.”

On Brexit, easyJet said that it anticipates economic and consumer uncertainty this summer and, as a result, revenue in the second half will be down by “at least a mid-single digit percentage”.

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