Airlines Say Bookings Fell Following Attacks In Paris, Egypt

The terrorist attacks last year in Paris and Egypt directly affected passenger bookings on both Flybe and Easyjet, the airlines say.

Flybe CEO Saad Hammad said that the "tragic" events in Paris led directly to a "significant hiatus" in bookings in the fourth quarter of 2015 not only for trips to Paris but on domestic and European travel generally. Buying Business Travel reports that Hammad said that fourth quarter revenue fell 6.1 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

“The tragic events in Paris overshadowed this last quarter and caused a significant hiatus in airline bookings, not just to France, but also on UK domestic and near-continent travel," Hammad said.

“As we expected, the combination of higher capacity in the market and lower spot fuel prices have led to lower yields sector-wide, even as the benefits start to come through from the unwinding of fuel price hedging. In this uncertain environment, we decided to protect yields rather than to chase unprofitable marginal revenue.”

That came in the wake of a similar announcement from EasyJet which said that the bombing of a Russian plane in Egypt and the Paris attacks hit their bottom line.

That carrier said that the attacks led to lower demand in November and December, but that bookings are recovering for the current period are already showing a "marked improvement."

Easyjet CEO Carolyn McCall told BBT that the carrier would continue its focus on cost-cutting this year, and that lower oil prices have allowed to to cut fares, which has led to an 8 percent increase in passenger numbers in the first quarter.

(images from file)

FMI: www.easyjet.com, www.flybe.com