LONDON: EasyJet on Tuesday posted the first annual pre-tax loss in its 25-year history, prompting it to seek more government help as the coronavirus pandemic hammers air travel.

The British no-frills carrier suffered a pre-tax loss of £1.27 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.4 billion euros) in its reporting year to September. That contrasted with a year-earlier profit of £430 million.

Passenger numbers halved to 48.1 million as Covid-19 travel restrictions slammed demand.

Revenue slumped by a similar proportion to stand at £3.0 billion, EasyJet said in a results statement.

It added that it plans to fly no more than 20 percent of normal capacity during its current first quarter ending on December 31.

But chief executive Johan Lundgren said the company was “well positioned and expecting to bounce back strongly” after responding “robustly and decisively” to the virus fallout.

The airline is in the process of axing up to 4,500 jobs or almost one third of its staff as it seeks to navigate the crisis, mirroring painful cost-cutting across the world aviation sector.—AFP