Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, has revealed annual profits up by one-third.
The carrier’s financial results for the year from October 2023 to September 2024 including a record profit of almost £1bn during the summer.
EasyJet carried 90 million passengers during the year, up 7 per cent. The airline made an annual profit before tax of £610m – representing £6.80 for each traveller flown.
The contribution from easyJet Holidays, the package travel offshoot of the airline, rose 56 per cent to £190m – representing almost one-third of the profit before tax.
Johan Lundgren, who has been chief executive for the past seven years, said the performance “reflects the effectiveness and execution of our strategy as well as continued popularity of our flights and holidays”.
He is standing down, and handing over control to Kenton Jarvis, currently easyJet’s chief financial officer.
Mr Lundgren said: “It has been a privilege to lead easyJet for the past seven years. I am extremely proud of all that has been achieved, which is a result of the hard work of the entire team.
“I am pleased to be leaving a strong easyJet, the future for the company is bright and I look forward to seeing Kenton delivering his ambitious plans, generating positive shareholder returns while making low-cost travel easy for millions of customers.“
Kenton Jarvis said: “The airline will continue to grow, particularly on popular longer leisure routes like North Africa and the Canaries.”
The expected growth is 3 per cent. During the year easyJet filled 89.3 per cent of its seats. In the three months from October to December 2024, 80 per cent of capacity has already been sold.
The average age of the easyJet fleet is just over 10 years (up three months in the year) and the average capacity of each Airbus is 181 seats, two more than a year earlier.
