Tourism reopening? EasyJet to fly more from late May

British airline easyJet said it expected to start to fly more from late May onwards, shrugging off worries about a third wave of COVID-19 infections in continental Europe which have dampened hopes for a rebound in travel this summer.

EasyJet said on Wednesday that most countries were planning to resume flying at scale in May, and it expected a ramp up from late May. It said that overall in its April to end of June quarter it would fly up to 20% of 2019 capacity levels.

The return to flying at scale will help boost the airline’s finances which have been squeezed during the pandemic.

It flew just 14% of 2019 capacity in the October to end of March period.

For the six months ended in March, the airline said it expected to report a loss before tax in the range of 690 million pounds ($950.41 million) to 730 million pounds, after it made stronger cost reductions than analysts had forecasted.