EasyJet hit by Omicron variant but says demand boosted by move to scrap tests

EasyJet has said the Omicron variant hit passenger demand last month, but revealed it had seen a recent boost in bookings from the move to scrap Covid travel tests.

The low-cost airline said Omicron saw its load factor, a measure of how well it fills its planes, slump to 67% in December after recovering past 80% in October and November.

Despite the Omicron impact, easyJet almost halved headline pre-tax losses in its first quarter to the end of December to £213 million, down from losses of £423 a year earlier.

The carrier said it has seen a “step change” in bookings since the January 5 announcement that pre-departure Covid testing would be scrapped for fully vaccinated arrivals entering England, with demand buoyed further by last week’s news of restriction-free travel from February 11.

EasyJet said while Omicron is expected to continue to have a short-term impact on its performance in the quarter to the end of March, its flight programme will “ramp up” from just 50% of 2019 levels in January to near pre-pandemic levels between July and September.