EasyJet holidays delivered a headline profit before tax of £61 million during the six months to the end of March off the back of a 50% increase in pre-tax earnings to £48 million.

The operator's first half (H1) result was driven by a 22% increase in easyJet holidays customers from just over one million to 1.3 million, which resulted in a 30% year-on-year increase in holidays revenue from £400 million to £518 million, as well as "margin improvements" including an 8% increase in average selling price.

In an H1 trading update issued on Thursday (21 May), easyJet revealed its in-house operator is 76% sold for the second half of the year, with customer numbers for the full year ultimately expected to grow by "low double digits" from a base of 3.1 million. "Demand has been particularly strong for easyJet holidays," said the group.

EasyJet holidays is authorised to carry nearly 3.5 million Atol-protected passengers in the year to the end of September.

EasyJet itself, meanwhile, posted a deeper first half headline loss before tax of £552 million, which compares with a loss of £394 million during the same H1 period last year.

The results capture the first month of the conflict in the Middle East, which started on 28 February (with the H1 reporting period running to the end of March).

The airline said forward bookings have been impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, resulting in a "later booking curve", but stressed it intends to operate its full on-sale summer schedule. It also said bookings in the month of departure were showing "year-on-year strength".

'We're aiming to bounce back'

Kenton Jarvis, easyJet's Chief Executive, flagged easyJet holidays' continued growth and expansion as an H1 highlight, along with a two percentage point (ppt) increase in load factor to 90%.

EasyJet also confirmed it would launch a new loyalty programme next year, capitalising on the fact that 71% of its bookings come from returning customers.

"Through disciplined growth, accelerated upgauging, and continued expansion of easyJet holidays, we aim to bounce back from this year’s Middle East related setbacks," said Jarvis.

However, he conceded the conflict in the Middle East was continuing to create "near-term uncertainty". "The second half of easyJet's 2026 financial year will be impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, with higher fuel costs and near-term uncertainty around customer demand," said easyJet.

"We continue to see positive late bookings since the conflict began, however overall bookings for the summer period are behind where they were at this point last year."

On fuel supply, Jarvis said easyJet was not seeing any disruption and was continuing to operate normally. The airline, meanwhile, said it was currently experiencing no operational impact owing to fuel supply "with normal supply visibility of a rolling four-week period".

It is currently 72% hedged on fuel for the second half of the year at $726 per metric tonne, 53% for the first half of its 2027 full year (six months to the end of March 2027) at $719 and 29% for the second half of its 2027 full year (six months to the end of September 2027) at $745.

EasyJet previously disclosed a £25 million hit in March owing to "unexpected additional fuel costs", which it described as "the biggest impact" that month.

However, it insisted first half revenue of nearly £4 billion was not impacted by the start of the conflict in the Middle East, claiming strong late demand in March for domestic, city and western Mediterranean routes "offset weakness in Egypt, Turkey and Cyprus".

EasyJet reviewed its schedule in March, which resulted in a 0.3% net reduction in available seats for the coming summer. It has also redeployed some capacity from countries "adjacent" to the Middle East conflict to domestic and city routes.

'Severe but plausible downside scenario'

The airline is currently 58% sold for the second half (six months to the end of September), down 2ppts year-on-year. It is 79% sold for Q3 (three months to the end of June) – down 1ppt year-on-year but up 1ppt since it issued its April trading update, which easyJet said was evidence of a later booking trend.

It is 40% sold for Q4 (three months to the end of September), which is 3ppts lower than it was at the same stage last year.

EasyJet said it has sufficient headroom in its financials and in its access to finance facilities to weather what it described as a "severe but plausible downside scenario" should trading conditions deteriorate amid "a protracted period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty" with consequential impacts on fuel prices and supply, cost inflation and consumer demand.

The scenario it had modelled assumes a 5% reduction in airline yield, a 5% reduction in easyJet holidays profit contribution, a 25% reduction in seat capacity over a two month operating window, an additional $100 per metric tonne increase in fuel prices and incremental operating cost inflation of 1.5%.

Elsewhere, EasyJet revealed its app is now the group's fastest-growing booking channel, accounting for 38% of direct airline bookings and 31% of direct holidays bookings.

New city break proposition

Meanwhile, EasyJet will later this year launch a new "flight‑plus‑hotel" offering ahead of the winter season, which will expand hotel inventory available to agents from circa 8,000 to 13,000.

The proposition will aim to capture city break bookings from the airline booking flow, although sales will then be fulfilled by easyJet holidays, easyJet Chief Executive Jarvis confirmed on a media call on Thursday morning.

Jarvis played down the prospect of the new proposition eating into potential travel agency business, saying flight-plus-hotel would ensure better choice irrespective of whether customers present to a travel agent/agency or direct via the easyJet website or app.

"EasyJet holidays will continue to work with agents and does so extremely well," said Jarvis, who added the purpose of flight-plus-hotel was to strengthen easyJet's city break offering an improve the way customers book.

On easyJet's planned loyalty programme, Jarvis said it would build on what the airline has built with its existing easyJet Plus scheme. More details will follow early next year, he added.