EASYJET expects to deliver a full-year profit after shrinking its quarterly losses by 37 per cent, the company said yesterday, as chief exec Johan Lundgren remained positive about the airline's preparedness to deal with higher passenger levels this summer.

The low-cost carrier announced yesterday that its losses before tax in the three months ended 31 December fell to £133m after passenger levels grew 47 per cent to 17.5m.

Meanwhile group revenue surged 83 per cent to £1.5bn, with revenue per seat going up 36 per cent to £68.47.

Shares surged almost 10 per cent on the news yesterday.

"We have seen strong and sustained demand for travel over the first quarter, carrying almost 50 per cent more customers compared with last year," Lundgren said.

"This strong booking performance, aided by the airline's step changed revenue capability, has driven an £80m year-on-year boost in the first quarter with continued momentum as customers prioritise spending on holidays for the year ahead."

Easter bookings, Easyjet said, are 24 per cent higher compared to 2019 levels, while summer bookings are at 60 per cent already, as the airline expects to reach pre-pandemic capacity by September. Lundgren told journalists he was feeling confident about the wider network's ability to deal with higher passenger levels and avoid a repetition of last summer's travel chaos.

Easyjet was one of the airlines that was hit the most by last summer's travel chaos, when a combination of booming travel demand and staff shortages led to severe delays at some of Europe's biggest hubs.

"There will be more flights this summer than it was last summer, probably between 10 to 15 per cent more," the chief executive said.

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