22nd May 2025 09:19
(Alliance News) - easyJet PLC on Thursday said its loss widened in the first half of its current financial year despite passenger revenue and numbers climbing, as costs increased.
The Luton, England-based budget airline said its pretax loss widened to GBP401 million in the six months that ended March 31, from GBP347 million the year before.
Total revenue for the six-month period rose 8.0% to GBP3.53 billion from GBP3.27 billion, driven partly by passenger revenue growing 5.4% to GBP2.16 billion from GBP2.05 billion.
Airline ancillary revenue was up 7.4% to GBP978 million from GBP911 million, while revenue from the firm's easyJet holidays brand improved 29% to GBP400 million from GBP311 million.
Fuel costs, however, edged up 3.8% to GBP949 million; airports & ground handling expenses increased 8.1% to GBP877 million and crew costs were 11% higher at GBP548 million.
"We continue to see strong demand for easyJet's flights and holidays, as we attract more customers through our great fares, friendly service and unrivalled network of destinations," said Chief Executive Officer Kenton Jarvis.
"We are executing well against our strategy, to drive efficiency and enhance our customer experience both in the sky and on the ground. In addition, our commitment to giving customers an even greater choice of flights and holidays will also see us continuing to grow both in Europe and the UK, where we will be launching a new base in Newcastle from next spring."
Passengers during the six-month period increased to 39.5 million, up 7.6% from 36.7 million a year prior. Seats flown were up 6.1% to 44.9 million from GBP42.3 million.
Booked load factor stood at 87.9% against 86.7% the prior year.
Looking ahead, easyJet said current bookings remain in line with its financial 2025 consensus, citing a company-compiled consensus for GBP703 million in headline pretax profit. This would be up 15% from GBP610 million in headline pretax profit for financial 2024.
The company noted there is also still the peak summer booking period to go before the end of its financial year on September 30. Airlines tend to lose money in the winter season but make up for this in the summer season.
easyJet guided for available seat kilometres capacity growth of around 8% for financial 2025. It reported 55.57 billion available seat kilometres in the first half, 12% higher on-year from 49.42 billion kilometres.
Full-year seat capacity growth is anticipated around 3% on-year to approximately 103 million seats.
Within its easyJet holiday brand, the company expects an around 25% growth in customers, with 77% of its available bookings for the second half of the year already sold.
Total airline cost per available seat kilometre is expected to reduce on-year by low-single digits. Total airline headline CASK for the first half was 4.7% lower at 6.43 pence against 6.75p a year prior.
CEO Jarvis continued: "We remain focused on delivering another record summer this year, expecting to drive strong earnings growth as we continue to progress towards our target of sustainably generating over GBP1 billion of annual profit before tax."
Shares in easyJet were down 2.9% at 548.43 pence each in London on Thursday morning. The stock has risen 18% over the past year.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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