Shares in easyJet fall to three-year low after Brexit profit warning

Shares in easyJet dropped by almost a fifth on Monday after the low-cost airline warned that profits would be hit by Britain’s decision to leave the EU. Friday’s referendum result would cause further economic and consumer uncertainty, easyJet warned, as its shares fell to a three-year low of £10.66 on investor worries about the threat to the airline’s membership of the single European aviation market. More than 1,000 flight cancellations were already expected in Q3 owing to the air traffic control strikes in France, severe weather and the runway and congestion issues at Gatwick airport in London. Profits would be GBP28m lower in Q3 as a result, the group said, while fallout from the EU referendum would mean that revenue in the second half of its financial year was expected to fall by at least a “mid single-digit percentage” compared with H2 2015. EasyJet has become Europe’s second-largest budget airline by capitalising on the creation of a single EU aviation market in the 1990s. This market allows EU airlines to operate services on any route within the bloc. CE Dame Carolyn McCall has said the company remained “confident” in the strength of its business model after Britain voted to leave the EU. But Dame Carolyn on Friday urged the EC to prioritise British airlines remaining part of the EU aviation area “given its importance to trade and consumers”.<br/>