easyJet shares lifted as it returns to air

The price of shares in FTSE 250 firm easyJet (LON:EZJ) soared 8.83% to 552p (as of 14:15 BST) after the airline said that it had seen encouraging performance since restarting flights in mid-June. The company is reopening additional routes and seeing good demand with a load factor of 84% during July. Revenues for the quarter ended 30th June were down by 99%, but management expect to see significant improvements during the current period.

CEO Johan Lundgren commented: “Returning to the skies again allows us to do what we do best and take our customers on much-needed holidays. I am extremely proud of all of our people whose care and commitment, along with the introduction of our industry-leading bio security measures, have resulted in customer satisfaction scores reaching a high of 80% since the re-start, an increase of 13 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

“I am really encouraged that we have seen higher than expected levels of demand with load factor of 84% in July with destinations like Faro and Nice remaining popular with customers.

“Our bookings for the remainder of the summer are performing better than expected and as a result we have decided to expand our schedule over the fourth quarter to fly c.40% of capacity. This increased flying will allow us to connect even more customers to family or friends and to take the breaks they have worked hard for”.