EasyJet and Wizz upbeat on summer demand despite Omicron uncertainty

European low-cost carriers EasyJet and Wizz Air are remaining focused on their plans for a strong summer season, despite the near-term uncertainty created by the emergence of the Omicron variant of concern of the coronavirus. The appearances of EasyJet CE Johan Lundgren and Wizz Air president Robert Carey at the World Aviation Festival in London today came with the industry still waiting to understand the scale of impact of the Omicron variant, which has already prompted governments to at least temporarily tighten travel restrictions. For Lundgren it marked a second consecutive day fielding such questions after the airline’s full-year results announcement yesterday was overshadowed by the fresh concerns. ”Normally when you present the full-year results there is a lot of discussion about the full-year results, and I don’t think I’ve ever done one like that where there was very little focus on the year gone by and a lot of focus on the recent developments,” says Lundgren. He reiterates his message from yesterday that it is too early to tell what the long-term impact of the latest developments on travel demand will be. ”There is a softening, we have definitely seen that,” he says, though noting the impact has not been as severe as followed previous travel restriction announcements and that it has largely hit very near-term bookings. ”There were some people transferring out into the early part of next year, we saw leisure destinations are holding up better than city routes, and we saw domestic [routes] holding up better.<br/>