The operator recorded a £50 million pre-tax profit during the first quarter of easyJet's 2025/26 financial year (three months to 31 December 2025), up from £43 million a year earlier, which helped offset a deeper first-quarter loss for its airline parent.
In a trading update issued on Thursday (29 January), easyJet confirmed a headline pre-tax loss of £93 million during Q1 – some £32 million higher than during the same period last year, which the airline put down to strategic investments at its new Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino bases.
Around 20% more customers travelled with easyJet holidays during the first of two typically quieter winter quarters, driving 26% year-on-year growth in revenue from £247 million to £311 million.
EasyJet is hopeful holidays customers will, over the full year, end up around 15% ahead of last year's 3.1 million. The operator is licensed to carry 3,455,570 passengers during the year to the end of September.
It is 97% sold for the first half of the year (six months to the end of March), with average selling price "up high single digits", and 47% sold for the second half (six months to the end of September), meaning it is just shy of two-thirds sold for the whole year (64%).
'Largest-ever January booking period'
EasyJet, meanwhile, is 63% sold for the second quarter (three months to the end of March), up by two percentage points year-on-year, and 22% sold for the full year, up one percentage point year-on-year.
"We have seen continued demand for our flights and holidays over the last quarter... with easyJet holidays maintaining its strong growth trajectory attracting 20% more customers year-on-year," said easyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis.
Jarvis added bookings were "building well" for the summer season amid the airline and operator's "largest-ever January booking period".
EasyJet passenger numbers grew by 7% year-on-year during Q1 to 22.7 million at a load factor of 90%, two percentage points ahead of Q1 last year, although total seat capacity growth for the full year is expected to come to around 3%, slightly below last year.
Confirming easyJet's deeper Q1" loss, the airline said this had been "partially offset by growth in easyJet holidays".
On January trading, it said: "This year, the traditionally busy January booking period has seen record levels in both volume and revenue as bookings continue to build for summer 2026," adding its medium-term target remains to generate £1 billion in profit before tax across the group.
