Easyjet CEO Sees Continued Customer Growth in 2026

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00:00Thanks for bringing us the numbers. Thanks for being on the show this morning.

00:03Where should I be focusing in terms of these numbers?

00:06Is it on what is happening with the top line?

00:08What's happening with revenue?

00:09Or is it what you are doing with costs?

00:15Thanks, Guy.

00:16Well, revenue did grow.

00:18We increased our turnover to just over 10 billion.

00:22But this was our third successive year of earnings growth.

00:26And since we set our medium-term targets in full year 23,

00:30we've increased our profit before tax by 46%.

00:33And this year was another good year, increasing earnings by 9%.

00:38In terms of the cost story, though, how big a struggle is it?

00:44Because those numbers could look better if there wasn't a fuel issue,

00:47if there wasn't an ATC issue.

00:48How big a factor is that?

00:50How easy is it to manage the cost line right now?

00:53I hear what you're doing on revenue.

00:55But is it actually the cost line that's holding you back?

01:00Well, the unit revenues have actually stayed flat for the last two years.

01:06They were flat again this year.

01:07What we've done, and it impacted the winter,

01:10was made quite a considerable investment into resilience measures

01:14so we could set up for what we expected to be a poor air traffic control environment,

01:19particularly above France.

01:21And the French did not disappoint there.

01:23But because of the resilience measures we have put in,

01:27we actually saw an improvement in our punctuality.

01:30And we also saw, really pleasingly,

01:33that customer satisfaction increased by 4% up to 80%,

01:36which is the highest level we've had in over a decade.

01:39And as a consequence, our disruption costs

01:43came down almost 50 million on an underlying basis.

01:46So the investments were made mainly in the second quarter

01:50to set up for the summer, and they really came through.

01:54What does the winter look like?

01:55You're talking about enhancing consumer choice

01:59and driving productivity and utilization.

02:01Is that what you're really referring to there,

02:03that ability to manage through some of those issues?

02:06What does the winter look like?

02:07What are we going to see?

02:09Why is the consumer experience going to be better?

02:11Just give us a sense of what demand looks like right now

02:14and how that's going to reflect again through the winter

02:16in terms of your numbers.

02:20Sure.

02:20Well, last year we flew 3.7 million more customers

02:24and EasyJet Holidays grew the business by 20% more customers.

02:28As we look forward into next year,

02:31EasyJet Holidays is anticipating a 15% increase in customers,

02:35so still a healthy growth from obviously now a larger base.

02:39And as an airline, the most visibility we have

02:42are over our first two quarters.

02:44The December quarter, we're 81% sold,

02:47and we've actually taken 1.4 million extra bookings

02:51compared with this time last year,

02:52so we're better sold as a percentage of the seats on offer.

02:56And for our second quarter,

02:59still quite early for the quarter to March,

03:01we're 26% sold,

03:03but again, we're better sold than we were this time last year.

03:06So the consumer is still there,

03:09and we'll have to wait to see,

03:11especially in the second quarter,

03:13how pricing comes through.

03:14But it's competitive as always.

03:17Well, Kenton, you mentioned the second quarter there.

03:20Let's go a little bit beyond that.

03:21For all of next year,

03:22talk to us about what your fare picture looks like.

03:24Are we looking at rises?

03:25So in full year 25,

03:30the year we've just had our average fare was £74,

03:34and the year before it was £73,

03:36so pretty flat fare environment for full year 25.

03:40The first quarter,

03:42we're seeing fares broadly flat year on year,

03:45and then for the second quarter,

03:48fares are up a little bit,

03:49but it's quite early,

03:50so we're some way away from the late selling period.

03:53Well, sticking with what's going on next year,

03:57talk to us a little bit about fleet deliveries,

03:59and we've previously talked to you about deliveries

04:03when it comes to Airbus.

04:04How are you seeing that timeline play out

04:06into 2026 and beyond?

04:11We're growing in confidence

04:12with the deliveries from Airbus.

04:14We said this time last year

04:16when we announced the results,

04:18we said we expected nine aircraft

04:20to be delivered in full year 25,

04:22and then that would rise to 17 the year after,

04:25then 30, then 43,

04:26and I'm pleased to say

04:27we've got the nine aircraft we anticipated,

04:30and we still have expected delivery schedule

04:33from Airbus is 17,

04:34rising to 30, and then 43.

04:36So we haven't actually had a change

04:38in the delivery schedule

04:39over the course of the last 12 months,

04:41so the production change seems to be unlocking a bit.

04:46Kenton, good morning.

04:47It's Anna.

04:48You've previously said

04:50there's nothing to add to speculation

04:52about whether somebody's going to,

04:53whether another company is going to buy EasyJet,

04:55which we understand,

04:56but these kind of rumours just keep on coming back.

04:58To the extent that one day earlier this year,

05:00your share price went up by 12%,

05:02talk of MSC possibly coming through with an offer.

05:05Why do you think all these rumours keep coming?

05:11Well, there has been consolidation

05:13in the aviation sector.

05:14We've seen the big three aviation groups

05:17of IAG, Lufthansa Group, and Air France, KLM,

05:21buying some of the smaller flag carriers.

05:23We know in Portugal, TAP is a target.

05:27We've seen all three go for Air Europa.

05:30SAS has been bought by Air France.

05:32So, you know, this process continues

05:36in the flag carrier space.

05:38And when it came to EasyJet,

05:40it was, in fact, pure speculation.

05:42There was nothing in it.

05:44And as a manager of the business

05:46and my management team,

05:47we just remain very focused

05:49to keep building on the earnings growth

05:51that we've had over the last three years

05:54and drive forward to our target

05:56of sustainable profits over a billion.

05:59Could you see it making sense, Kenton,

06:01for that consolidation story

06:03to extend into the low-cost airline space, though?

06:06I mean, Michael O'Leary talks about that,

06:07that their business many times larger than yours.

06:10You're a few times larger than Wiz.

06:11Would it make sense for consolidation

06:13in the low-cost airlines?

06:17Not, I mean, it's not in my plans.

06:20My plans are to remain focused

06:21on improving the customer experience

06:24and improving our earnings year on year.

06:27And that's what we'll focus on doing.

06:30And, Kenton, any thoughts on the budget tomorrow?

06:34Anything in it for the aviation sector,

06:36do you suspect?

06:39Well, I hope there's some consistency in the budget.

06:42The government have been very pro-aviation

06:45and pro-growth.

06:46They really recognise the valuable role

06:49that aviation plays,

06:50especially to an island economy,

06:51in enabling growth.

06:54So I hope that there is some sort of freeze

06:57or even reduction on air passenger duty.

06:59Because last time we saw a reduction in 2023

07:02on domestic APD,

07:05EasyJet added capacity,

07:07other carriers added capacity

07:08that increased the connectivity,

07:10increased the consumer choice

07:11and brought down fares.

07:12And I think that, you know,

07:13that kind of action would be very encouraging,

07:16but we'll have to wait and see.

07:17Okay, Kenton, thank you so much.

07:19Thanks for your time.

07:20EasyJet CEO, Kenton Jarvis.

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