The airline expects easyJet holidays to deliver around £180 million in pre-tax profits in the year to 30 September, growth of 48% year-on-year.

Its hopes were underlined in easyJet’s third-quarter results on Wednesday (24 July) covering the three months to 30 June – the pre-peak summer period.

The operator delivered £73 million in pre-tax profits during the quarter, up 49% from £49 million during the same period 12 months ago. Revenue from holidays, meanwhile, increased by 42% from £237 million during Q3 2023 to £336 million in Q3 2024.

"EasyJet holidays continues to perform strongly, with passenger growth of 33%," said easyJet in its Q3 trading update, with peak summer yet to be flown and operated.

Last year, easyJet said it wanted to turn easyJet holidays into a £250 million-a-year business.

EasyJet itself posted a Q3 pre-tax profit of £236 million on Wednesday, up £33 million year-on-year, off the back of year-on-year passenger growth of 8% from 23.5 million to 25.3 million. Q3 load factor was 90%, rising to 92% in June.

Group revenue, meanwhile, increased by 11% from £2.36 billion in Q3 2023 to £2.63 billion this year, which easyJet attributed to growth in passenger numbers, ancillary revenue "and the continued growth of easyJet holidays".

Chief executive Johan Lundgren said the airline "remained on track to deliver another record-breaking summer".