On the upside..

It happened, some say it was down to the global market but I, personally, am happy to take the credit with all my wishful thinking and wishing for it: oil prices dropped. That’s right. I nearly had to stop my car and gawp in amazement when, in place of the usual 119.9 pence per litre sign, I saw 115.9.

So, with my holiday still a go and getting closer, the mood here at Holiday Extras, or certainly from my desk, is a positive one. Accordingly, let’s have a look at some good news.

EasyJet – whose planes I saw many yesterday whilst visiting Gatwick Airparks – are set to make a pre-tax profit this year of between £110 million to £120 million despite an increase of £185 million in fuel bills. That an airline – a budget one at that – is expecting any profit is great news, let alone one as nice as that, their passenger numbers also grew by 16% to 11.5 million.

As I mentioned above, I was out and about at some of the sites my company sells parking and hotels at yesterday. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a sales pitch. The manager at Airparks Gatwick explained that in the upcoming weekends they’re expecting 800 cars in and 800 out a day, that’s an awful lot of cars and with peak season I urge you to book your parking as far in advance as possible, not just for the lower prices but spaces are going fast.

Sticking with the good news…

To my mind it’s good news anyway. The low-cost carriers are outperforming the big boys as the “R Word” sets in. The no-frills rivals are outdoing full service airlines. As worldwide scheduled capacity for July grew by just 1%, the low-cost sector shored a growth of 13%. Let’s hope the smaller airlines can continue to weather the storm.

Well, as the sun is shining brightly and tomorrow is set to be the hottest day of the year, let’s once again say “chin up” and hope the climate – economically – stays in a positive swing.