Low-cost airline easyJet – which is increasing capacity at Liverpool Airport – says more Christmas travellers helped slash winter losses and keeps it on track for more than £700m annual profits. Tony McDonough reports

A surge in festive travellers have helped easyJet cut pre-tax losses in the first quarter of its financial years.
In the quarter covering October, November and December, when it traditionally loses money, easyJet said pre-tax losses totalled £61m. This is a big improvement on the £126m reported in the same period in 2023.
Total year-on-year revenues were £1.26bn, up 11% on the previous year. Its holidays division continues to see rapid growth with revenues up 36% to £247m.
In a trading update to the stock exchange on Wednesday easyJet said it was on track to report full-year pre-tax profits, for the 12 months to September 30, 2025, of £709m. This would be almost £100m higher than the £610m reported last year.
In November easyJet said it will increase the number of its aircraft at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) from seven to eight from summer 2025. This latest investment at LJLA will support an extra 400 jobs.
Its growth at Liverpool, where it now has 27 routes, has been driven by demand for leisure travel, with a quarter of customers at LJLA travelling on an easyJet holiday. Beach packages to Costa Blanca, Majorca and Tenerife have proven particularly popular.
Passenger numbers in the three months to the end of December increased to 21.2m from 19.8m a year earlier. Revenue per seat — a proxy for ticket prices that includes extras such as baggage — rose 6% to £74.36.
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New chief executive, Kenton Jarvis, said: “easyJet performed well in the quarter reducing Q1 losses by 52% year on year while flying 7% more customers to an even greater choice of destinations across the network.
“easyJet holidays continued its growth, achieving around a 40% increase in profits during the period. Looking to this summer, we have seen continuing demand for easyJet’s flights and holidays where we have one million more customers already booked.
“All of this demonstrates positive progress towards our medium term target to deliver more than £1bn of profit before tax.”