UK low cost airline EasyJet has today forecast annual profit at the upper end of expectations, as it benefited from robust flight demand and cancellations at bigger rival Ryanair in 2018.
EasyJet's confidence came as Ryanair braced for strikes across six European countries, forcing flight cancellations that will disrupt the plans of 40,000 of its customers.
For the 12 months ended September 30, EasyJet said pre-tax profit would be between £570-580m, a rise of at least 40% on last year, and at the upper end of the £550-590m figure it gave in July.
It said trading continued to be positive.
But EasyJet warned in its outlook that for the first-half of its 2019 financial year, revenue per seat would decrease by low to mid-single digits reflecting that in the same period last year it was helped by one-off issues, such as the bankruptcies of airlines Monarch and Air Berlin, and issues at Ryanair.
Ryanair has struggled with months of strikes, including today's which will affect about 10% of its flights, and its share price is down 23% in a year. That compares with a rise of 8% at EasyJet.
EasyJet said it would provide further details on its 2019 outlook when it announces full-year results on November 20.
