EasyJet-6

[Mr A Tis]

MAN-NQY Was a very popular route filling BMI Baby B737s, it only stopped when Baby stopped everything. Loganair is also on the route, and on the dates checked, once baggage fees are added, Loganair was the least expensive and with more user friendly timings/

[Dannyboy39]

I see easyJet have appointed former RBS executive Stephen Hester as it’s new chairman replacing John Barton.

I kid you not.

Of course airlines are run the accountants these days.

[pabely]

He helped sort out RBS, now NatWest, and oversee RSA. Running a sucessful business does not always need skills in the business you are focused on, rather the way business is done and as such the city class him as a heavyweight.

[FRatSTN]

Carolyn McCall came from a journalism background and many were sceptical at the time of her appointment. Probably the best CEO easyJet ever had.

No disrespect to Johan, but pandemic aside I feel they've lost their way a bit under his lead.

[Jonty]

Wasn't it McCall who introduced flexicrew at easyJet?

[tictack67]

Load factor is vanity,
Yield is sanity.

Load factor is only a note of how popular a route is, not how profitable it is.

A restraint with a 100 covers at £15. Makes same "turnover" as a restaurant with 30 customers charged £50.

From that turnover obviously subtract costs to get profit

[pabely]

I hope we are not confusing the role of Chairman with the CEO? It is John Barton who is departing, not Johan Lundgren.

[FRatSTN]

I'm aware of that, but just making the point that it doesn't require somebody from an aviation background.

[easyflyer83]

tictack67

That is only partly true. Typically, the LCC model relies on a high load factor and load factor is a key indicator that is analysed by investors and analysts alike.

Your argument is more akin to a legacy carrier where, for example a route is premium heavy and so excess capacity down the back isn’t such an issue. They also carry cargo which provides an additional revenue stream which LCC’s don’t typically exploit. What LCC’s do exploit are anciliary revenue streams and they very much rely up on volume…… high load factors support that.

Either way, a load factor such as that stated by the poster is pretty good considering it’s only been on sale a short time……. decent yield or not.

[tictack67]

"Decent yield or not". I'm afraid you are incorrect. Ryanair famously offered 1p and £9 fares to get the grant and discounts for airports, as FR promised them so many million px a year. To meet that fig and get grant they often had offered mega cheap seats or face penalities

[easyflyer83]

LCC’s have always created/stimulated additional demand that otherwise wouldn’t be there through low fares, particularly early on. Again, one of the reasons they do this is because the business model is predicated on volume. Stack them high and sell them cheap. (Even though not all the fares on any given flight will be classed as cheap)

Often the last lot of seats can bring in a great deal of revenue but you need a high load factor to be able to reach that point.

[EI-BUD]

I'd slightly disagree with some of the comments regarding Carolyn McCall. It was under her tenure that easyJet opened and then closed many European bases in the face of the usual Ryanair attack which is to flood the market with incredibly cheap pricing until such time as the competition with drew. Examples include Madrid and Rome. I'd describe her approach as hugely safe/ conservative and a move to be overly reliant on LGW and also business travel.

They are now in the value carrier space more than low cost and they need to decide what their USP is to make the airline resilient to Ryanair and Wizz. To date it has been to compete with the legacy carriers at primary airports. Unlikely they will restructure to become a ULCC. I think we'll see them rebuilding a network around a core number of hubs and look to build frequency on primary city pairs and business centres as business travel resumes. We may also see some level of differentiation in terms of service or potentially cooperation with other carriers, the usual low cost carrier 'rules' may not necessarily apply.

I wouldn't rule out a potential sale to one of the large groups at the right juncture. IAG would seem like the logical fit. My own opinions.

[toledoashley]

CMC did a great job of righting many of the wrongs which took place under Andy Harrison - especially on passenger experience (delays, cancellations, introduction of allocated seating etc) - but there were many areas where as a result they fell behind. Arguably they lost control of costs, and the cost per seat kept rising - as a result positioned themselves with a more premium product (including livery and toned down interior to boot).

[brian_dromey]

I don't think thats actually the case. While easyJet have repositioned themselves in a more upmarket space, my understanding is that the new livery was forced on easyJet because easyGroup had a sudden realisation that the billboard easyJet titles were orange on white and the licensing agreement required white lettering on an orange background. The new interior actually cut costs as they squeezed an extra row on the A320s. In contrast, none of the A319s were refitted and they make do with their original interiors. I think easyJet are very focussed on costs, but their rivals at Wizz and Ryanair seem to have even sharper pencils. easyJet do have almost twice the average fare as Ryanair do, at €61 Vs €34.

There are areas where easyJet does need to work harder. Their homepage looks fine, but the booking engine feels dated and is quite difficult to navigate. Their latest hand baggage/seat assignment policy is bonkers. You can only being a cabin bag on board if you are sitting in the front rows, no seats at the back can be assigned if you want to have a cabin bag. I entirely agree with limiting baggage in the cabin, but concentrating all the hand luggage customers in one section of the cabin seems a strange way to do it.

[ib26uk]

Anybody know when flights from beyond September 2022 onwards go on sale?.............

[CabinCrewe]

EI-BUD

I don’t see that as a possibility at all.

[Link Kilo]

"EasyJet Plc rejected an unsolicited takeover approach from rival discounter Wizz Air Holdings Plc, according to people familiar with the matter, and said it will raise $2 billion in stock and debt instead."

A one-off or are EZY in-play now and might others bid?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...source=twitter

[Just a spotter]

Some might see the company as vulnerable, the manner in which it has raised more capital has sent the share price down

https://www.reuters.com/article/easy...-idUSL8N2QB15H

No doubt there will be some running the rule over them. Plenty of Private Equity money sitting around looking for a home

[ATNotts]

Private equity involvement in airlines generally doesn't end well, not least because there generally isn't the possibility to asset strip and pair down staffing levels on carriers that are already operating tight ships. If private equity got their claws into some of the legacy carriers with fat they could strip out then that may be a different kettle of fish all together.

[inOban]

I guess their problem is that, having focused on the budget business market, both in terms of routes and flexible fares, they are now in the market which is recovering most slowly. (if it ever does because of Br*X*t).