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EasyJet lost £61m during the final three months of 2024, as Britain’s biggest budget airline flew 21.2 million passengers between October and December.
This means the firm was losing an average of just under £3 for each person. In common with many other travel companies, easyJet traditionally loses money in winter but makes large profits in summer.
EasyJet’s new chief executive, Kenton Jarvis, said the airline had “performed well” in the quarter, halving year-on-year losses while flying 7 per cent more customers.
The package holiday subsidiary, easyJet Holidays, made £43m in profits, up 39 per cent on the previous year. The brand is expecting customer growth of a quarter during the full financial year.
Mr Jarvis said: “Looking to this summer, we have seen continuing demand for easyJet’s flights and holidays where we have one million more customers already booked, with firm favourites like Palma, Faro and Alicante as well as new destinations like Tunisia and Cairo proving popular.
“All of this demonstrates positive progress towards our medium-term target to deliver more than £1 billion of profit before tax.”
The airline said “current booking trends are supportive” of the market consensus of around £709m for the full financial year, which ends in September 2025.
Some ski flights from London Gatwick to Geneva for February half-term are selling for £1,157 return.
EasyJet’s “load factor” – the proportion of seats filled on the average flight – increased from 86 to 88 per cent. At its peak in October 2024, the airline operated 324 Airbus aircraft, seven more than in the previous corresponding quarter.
Six new A320s were taken into ownership in the quarter; a seventh aircraft was delivered in January and another two are expected to be operational by peak summer.
Rival carriers, notably Ryanair and Jet2, are taking in new aircraft more quickly. Ryanair – Europe’s biggest budget airline – is expecting “up to 29” new Boeing 737 Max aircraft in 2025.
Jet2 expects 14 new Airbus aircraft by the end of 2025; it has retired its fleet of old Boeing 757 aircraft.
Source: independent.co.uk
