easyJet loss widens but backs outlook amid record January bookings

easyJet PLC on Thursday said bookings are building well for the summer season but said increased investment meant losses widened in its first quarter.

"We have seen continued demand for our flights and holidays over the last quarter, growing airline passenger numbers and load factor with easyJet holidays maintaining its strong growth trajectory," said Kenton Jarvis, easyJet's chief executive.

"Bookings are building well for the summer season, with our largest ever January booking period. We remain committed to delivering sustainable value and continue to progress towards our medium-term target of generating over GBP1 billion in profit before tax," he added.

The Luton, Bedfordshire-based budget airline reported a headline pretax loss of GBP93 million in the three months to December, the first quarter of its financial year which runs to September, stretched from GBP61 million the year prior, and above GBP88 million Bloomberg consensus.

The FTSE 100 listing said the performance reflects the first winter operating strategic investments at Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino airports, the time required for capacity investments to reach maturity and the continued competitive environment in specific markets.

This was partially offset by profit growth in easyJet holidays and the continued reduction in disruption costs.

Passengers numbers grew 7% in the quarter, ahead of seat capacity growth of 5%, leading to a 90% load factor, up 2 percentage points year-on-year.

Total revenue rose 11% to GBP2.26 billion from GBP2.04 billion, with passenger revenue up 9%, ancillary revenue also up 9% and Holidays revenue up 26%.

Demand for easyJet holidays continues to grow, with customer numbers increasing 20% year-on-year, delivering a pretax profit of GBP50 million in the quarter.

Revenue per available seat kilometres was flat year-on-year, while operating cost per available seat kilometres rose 2%.

easyJet left its full year outlook unchanged and expects average seat kilometre capacity to grow 7% year-on-year with seats expected to grow 3%.

Full-year easyJet holidays customers are planned to grow up to 15%, from a base of 3.1 million customers.

The firm said the airline was 63% sold for the second quarter and 22% sold for the second half of the financial year.

easyJet Holidays are 97% sold for the first half, with average selling price up high single digits, and 47% sold for the second half.

"The traditionally busy January booking period has seen record levels in both volume and revenue as bookings continue to build for summer 2026," the company said.

Full-year total operating cost per available seat kilometres are expected to see modest inflation as cost and operational efficiencies alongside favourable fuel prices partially offset market-wide cost inflation.