Yahoo Finance EasyJet beefs up package holidays and loyalty scheme as losses narrow
EasyJet is planning to beef up its loyalty scheme, package holidays business and services for business travellers in a bid to boost customer numbers.
The low-cost airline has appointed a new head of its holidays business, Garry Wilson, who will sit on the management board and report directly to chief executive Johan Lundgren as it attempts the increase the proportion of its customers who book a hotel through its website from its current level of just 2.5pc.
It also hopes to decrease the number of its customers who fly with it only once per year from 46pc by improving the “rewards and recognition” offered by its loyalty programme and bolster business passenger levels by making it easier for enterprise customers to book flights and generate invoices.
Mr Lundgren said: “All of these initiatives will provide higher profit per seat and higher returns for our shareholders.”
The news came alongside EasyJet’s half-year results, which revealed a 20pc surge in revenues to £2.2bn as passenger numbers grew 8.8pc and the airline’s load factor - an industry measure of how full its planes were - crept up 0.9 percentage points to 91.1pc.
That helped the company to narrow losses for the six months to March by 70pc to £68m.
Shares in EasyJet were up 2.6pc at £17.29 in early trade.
