Budget airline easyJet has revealed it swung to an annual profit after a record summer, but cautioned over a hit from the conflict in Gaza.
The group reported pre-tax profits of £432million for the year to September 30, against losses of £208million the previous year.
A record-breaking performance over its second half and the peak summer season helped it shrug off a soaring fuel bill and higher costs across the business.
It cautioned that it does not expect to narrow losses in its first quarter of the new financial year as flights and demand are impacted by the war between Hamas and Israel.
Its flights to Israel and Jordan are temporarily paused, with Egypt also seeing a knock-on effect – representing a combined four percent of its overall flight programme.
EasyJet said: “Additionally, there was a broader impact on near-term flight searches and bookings across the industry, though this seems to be coming back with a recent improvement in trading.”
New research commissioned by the airline this month found more than two-thirds (67 percent) of UK consumers said they are more likely to travel abroad in 2024 than this year.
Protecting holiday spending remains a priority for most, with 77 percent saying they will prioritise spending money on a holiday over anything else in their yearly budget, which marks a 70 percent increase from last year.
However, total revenue saw a significant rise of 42 percent this year, reaching nearly £8.2million, compared to nearly £5.8million in 2022. The airline attributed this rise to an increase in capacity to 92.6 million seats from 81.5 million in 2022, coupled with “strong ticket yield” and a continued increase in ancillary revenue generation.
Commenting on the results, Johan Lundgren, easyJet’s chief executive officer, said: “Our record summer performance demonstrates the success of our strategy and that demand for easyJet remains strong as customers choose us for our network and value.
“We see a positive outlook for this year with airline and holiday bookings both ahead year on year and recent consumer research highlights that around three-quarters of Britons plan to spend more on their holidays versus last year with travel continuing to be the top priority for household discretionary spending.
“We are confident about the future and the opportunity ahead, focusing on capital discipline and driving our low-cost model to achieve our ambitious medium-term targets.”
According to the airline, the 2024 financial year has begun “positively” with strong year-on-year profit growth in October and revenue per seat on early bookings for Q2-Q4 ahead of last year.
It added: “There’s also strong growth in easyJet holidays’ bookings for all periods on sale, continuing the upward trend. Consequently, easyJet aims for continued progress towards our medium-term profitability ambitions.”
