UK travel industry forecasts summer boom amid surge in holiday bookings
Travel companies are reporting a bounce back in bookings, with easyJet and Saga predicting a summer surge as the impact of Omicron on consumer confidence wanes, and the government’s move to lift testing and travel restrictions pushes capacity back to near pre-pandemic levels.
EasyJet said that while the final three months of last year showed a dramatic improvement on 2020 – easyJet operated 85.6m flights compared with 23.4m – the company missed its load factor forecast as Christmas travel plans were once again disrupted.
“This was due to the impact that Omicron had on customers’ confidence and ability to travel during December,” the company said. “EasyJet saw significant levels of late flight transfers out of December due to travel restrictions and concerns over Omicron.”
Easyjet said it expects Omicron to continue to have an impact over its short-term performance in the second quarter, the three months to the end of March.
However, the airline said that customers looked to rebook, rather than cancel, which will help boost its performance this year. In addition, the company said it has seen a “sustained step-change” in bookings after the government’s announcement earlier this month to remove pre-departure testing, and a further boost following the news that restriction-free travel will commence from 11 February.
“We see a strong summer ahead, with pent up demand that will see easyJet returning to near 2019 levels of capacity with UK beach and leisure routes performing particularly well,” said Johan Lundgren, chief executive of easyJet. “Booking volumes jumped in the UK following the welcome reduction of travel restrictions. We believe testing for travel across our network should soon become a thing of the past.”
Saga, the
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