EasyJet has published its latest trading update, showing record profits, increased revenue per seat and strong demand for its easyJet Holidays division.
The low-cost carrier made £203 million before tax in the third quarter ending 30 June, a £317 million improvement on the same period of last year.
Passenger growth was up 7 per cent year-on-year, and the airline also recorded a 23 per cent increase in revenue per seat.
In particular the group’s easyJet Holidays division “continues to outperform”, recording a £49 million profit before tax for the third quarter. EasyJet said that winter holiday bookings were up over 100 per cent year-on-year.
The group said that based on current booking trends it expects the fourth quarter to deliver another record profit before tax performance, with revenue per seat up 10 per cent year-on-year.
But it warned that the guidance was “subject to the operational environment with the whole industry seeing challenging conditions this summer”. Earlier this month easyJet announced it had cut around 1,700 flights from its Gatwick summer schedules, citing operational challenges including ATC strikes and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The group also said that it was “running a process to secure additional firm order positions for our longer term fleet plan” – easyJet currently has 163 aircraft on order for delivery through to 2028.
Commenting on the news Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said:
“Our Q3 performance has been underpinned by strong passenger demand for easyJet’s network and services. We continue to provide great value to customers with around half of easyJet’s fares currently on sale still under £50.
“We are absolutely focused on mitigating the impact of the challenging external environment on our customers and flying them on their well-earned holidays.
“We continue to see good momentum as we move into Q4 where we will be operating over 160,000 flights and expect to deliver another record PBT performance. This winter we are adding more than 15 per cent capacity and we see bookings ahead of the same period last year.”