British low-cost airline easyJet raised full-year guidance when reporting strong growth in third-quarter revenue after it attracted more business passengers, sending its shares up 15 percent.
EasyJet said revenue for the three months to end-June grew 23 percent to GBP£935 million (USD$1.52 billion), also boosted by growing passenger and ancillary revenues.
The budget carrier, which acted last year to lure more corporate passengers, said the number of business travellers flying with it jumped a fifth during the quarter, and the outlook was positive -- it has already sold around three quarters of the seats for its summer flights.
Chief executive Carolyn McCall said that, assuming normal conditions and a 10-12 percent return on capital employed, it expected a full-year pre-tax profit of GBP£200 million - GBP£230 million, at current fuel and exchange rates.
EasyJet said it carried 14.4 million passengers in the June quarter, up 17.3 percent. Its load factor rose 0.2 percentage points to 86.3 percent.
The company had been expected to report a 2010/11 pre-tax profit of GBP£184 million based on estimates in a GBP£160 million - GBP£268 million range.
Despite a recent rebound in economy class travel, rising fuel prices continue to cause trouble for the industry and could wipe out airline profitability in 2011, hindering the industry's recovery, industry body IATA has said.
Fuel cost rises tend to weigh more on price-sensitive flights used by tourists and individual travellers.
EasyJet said it would look to forward buy up to 85 percent of its fuel requirements for the coming 12 months and around two thirds of its 12-24 month requirements.
The carrier said it had hedged three-quarters of its fuel requirements at USD$812 per metric tonne until its fiscal year-end.
Earlier this month easyJet's largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said he wants to force a shareholder vote over the airline's plans to by new aircraft, resuming a long-running dispute with the company he founded.
(Reuters)
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