EasyJet sets sights on winning business from national flag carriers

EasyJet’s CE has set his sights on using the coronavirus crisis to win market share from Europe’s national flag carriers, rather than going head-to-head with low-cost rivals when the industry emerges from the pandemic. Johan Lundgren said that the biggest market overlap the group had “is with companies such as Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Tui and British Airways. There has been huge retrenchment of capacity from their end . . . this gives us a great opportunity to grow.” He said he was not focused on competing with budget airlines such as Ryanair. The pandemic has caused huge damage across the aviation industry, but legacy national airlines are expected to recover more slowly because they are generally geared towards business travel and short flights to feed long-haul hub operations. Business trips and long-haul travel are widely expected to be laggards when the market improves. EasyJet competes with these national airlines on two-thirds of its network, and will prioritise flying from the more expensive airports those carriers tend to use as it plans its network for the rest of the year, Lundgren said.  He is more circumspect about the opportunities arising from the crisis than Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary or Wizz Air’s József Váradi, who have both talked about a one-off chance to win huge market share. EasyJet investors have also yet to be won over on future opportunities. The company’s share price has fallen 50% over the past 12 months, while Ryanair and Wizz Air have recovered their losses.<br/>