easyJet PLC on Monday warned about rising costs and the need to lease additional aircraft, due to the recent disruption of flights at two of its biggest airports.

The Luton Airport-based budget airline said it expects the extra costs this summer to be a one-off occurrence, with more system resilience built in time for the 2023 peak season.

It blamed this on an ‘unprecedented ramp up’ in flying, following a strong return of demand, especially in April and May.

As a consequence, the company experienced ‘challenges’, such as air traffic control delays and staff shortages in ground handling and at airports.

Coupled with increased ID check times, this reduced its ‘planned resilience’ and led to flight caps at two of its biggest airports, Gatwick Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

As a result, the airline expects to fly 87% of pre-pandemic capacity in its third quarter ended June 30.

In its financial fourth quarter, which ends on September 30, easyJet expects to fly at 90% of pre-pandemic capacity.

Further, it warned that there will be a cost impact from this disruption and the measures taken to combat it, which resulted in costs for additional wet leased aircraft, crew costs, and additional airport charges.

‘Delivering a safe and reliable operation for our customers in this challenging environment is easyJet’s highest priority, and we are sorry that for some customers we have not been able to deliver the service they have come to expect from us,’ said Chief Executive Johan Lundgren.

easyJet shares were trading 2.8% lower at 424.60 pence each in London on Monday morning.

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