(Bloomberg) -- EasyJet is banking on the trade-down effect, where customers continue to choose cheaper brands to cut costs, to return it to pre-pandemic capacity next year. It comes after what can only be described as a torrid three years for the airline industry, where they first had to deal with aviation grinding to a halt, a stop-start recovery, then the fallout from the war in Ukraine, and now their customer’s wallets are under immense pressure. 

Here’s the key business news from London-listed companies this morning:

In The City

EasyJet Plc: The low-cost airline expects to do well out of the tougher economic environment, returning to pre-pandemic levels of capacity by next summer, as it expects customers to still go on holiday but start to look for value.

• The carrier expects further market-wide inflationary pressure next year, with fuel costs in the first half increasing more than 50% year on year

AstraZeneca Plc: The pharmaceutical company will buy Neogene Therapeutics, a company that develops therapies for targeting cancer, for up to $320 million.

Wise Plc: The cross-border payments company experienced rising costs from “unusually high” levels of volatility in global currencies, with the prices it charged customers rising slightly in the second quarter. 

In Westminster

Rishi Sunak said the UK cannot rely on “simplistic” Cold War rhetoric against China, even after the BBC said one of its journalists was arrested and alleged he had been beaten and kicked by police while covering anti-government protests in Shanghai. 

Meanwhile, the government scrapped plans to define and regulate “legal but harmful speech” from the Online Safety Bill as it prepares to bring the long-awaited and controversial legislation back to Parliament next week. 

In Case You Missed It 

Later today, the Bank of England will start to sell the government bonds bought as part of its emergency action to halt recent chaos in UK markets. The sales are likely to prove a fresh test of confidence, given investors are already facing a deluge of supply from increased government borrowing and the BOE unwinding its pandemic-era debt holdings.

While luxury home prices are expected to drop in London next year, they look set to surge in another global business hub. 

Elsewhere, Ireland is said to be planning to allow banks that were bailed out during the financial crisis to pay bonuses to staff, ending a long-standing ban.

Looking Ahead

The BOE is due to release statistics on mortgage approvals, a reliable guide to housing activity in the months ahead, at 9:30 a.m. this morning. Approvals are likely to drop again in October, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates, as the UK housing market shows signs of cracking.

Tomorrow, publisher Future Plc and water and wastewater company Pennon Group Plc are among the companies expected to report results. 

For a news fix when the day is done, sign up to The Readout with Allegra Stratton, to make sense of the day’s events.

--With assistance from Kwaku Gyasi.

(Corrects EasyJet’s bullet point to reflect fuel costs will rise by more than 50%.)

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.