EasyJet narrows pretax losses in first half of year

British low-cost airline easyJet posted a narrower half-year pretax loss and guided that it expected revenue per seat to be positive in the second half of the year. The company posted a pretax loss of £68 million (€77.3 million) for the six months ended March 31st, an improvement on the £236 million loss it made in the same period last year. Headline profit before tax, excluding costs associated with its new operations in Berlin Tegel, came in at £8 million against a £212 million loss last year. Revenue rose 19.5 per cent to £2.18 billion in the period. Passenger numbers increased by three million, or 8.8 per cent, to £36.8 million in the period, including 700,000 from Tegel. – Reuters, PA