easyJet on Tuesday showed business has received a lift following the collapse of Thomas Cook, as the airline upgraded its revenue forecasts.
Revenue per seat rose 8.8% to £58.63 in the quarter to December 31, and some 1.5% came on the back of Thomas Cook’s failure last September.
The carrier, which launched a new package holidays business in November, saw “robust” customer demand during the period.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive said: “I’m pleased that we have made a strong start to the year with continued positive momentum. The improvement in our revenue per seat has been driven by our self-help revenue initiatives combined with robust customer demand and a lower capacity growth market.”
Shares in easyJet rose 67p to 1517p.
Group sales increased 9.9% to £1.4 billion and the company raised its sales-per-seat guidance with revenues helped in part by a new car rental service.
The company also expects losses to narrow in the first half.
But the airline was not without problems as air traffic control strikes in France led to 813 flights being cancelled.
