The airline expects to lose about €103 million during the coming months amid a combination of high fuel prices and weak seasonal demand.

After operating at peak volumes for months, there are concerns, though, that distribution networks will struggle to cope with huge seasonal demand.

But the company cautioned that variable costs and a weakness in seasonal demand would hit fourth-quarter earnings.

He pointed out that the retail sector tended to see a reasonable level of staff turnover due to pay and seasonal demand.

And they can scale up for more users and extra services - or scale back down as seasonal demand drops - with much less planning and preparation than doing it on premise.