Between April and June, easyJet recorded passenger growth of 7%, but all while growing revenue by a very healthy 23%, yield per passenger by 22% and ancillary yield – extras like seat reservations and hold baggage – by 20% year-on-year.

During its third-quarter (three months to 30 June), the number of seats flown by easyJet increased by only 5%, with loads on its aircraft averaging 90%, rising to 91% in June. The equation looks simple – strong demand versus modest capacity increase equals higher earnings.

There is further evidence too that the public aren’t scrimping on their holidays this summer. EasyJet’s passenger revenue per seat jumped 24% year-on-year from £46.20 to £57.33 while ancillary revenue increased by 22%, with each passenger paying an average £23.75 extra on top of the basic seat cost.

Taken together, this meant total revenue per seat rose from £65.67 to £81.08, so a whopping 29% of the average price paid for an easyJet flight now comes from the sale of extras.

EasyJet Holidays is also enjoying travel’s resurgence, delivering a pre-tax profit of £49 million – more than triple the £16 million it delivered a year ago. Revenue, meanwhile, has increased from £117 million to £237 million. EasyJet names its in-house operator as one of the factors “driving the group towards a strong outcome for the full year 2023”, together with a fall in fuel costs of 2%.

Julie Palmer, partner at business advisory Begbies Traynor, put it succinctly: “EasyJet is flying high as the travel industry continues to recover from the pandemic and last summer’s disruption when airports weren’t ready for the huge rebound in demand to jet off,” she said.

EasyJet is the latest to signal a bumper year following healthy figures from Tui and Jet2 plc. Jet2’s full year pre-tax earnings of £371 million for the 12 months to the 31 March 2023 came in a huge 142% ahead of 2020’s pre-pandemic result. It also reported 90% loads on its flights and looks prudent when it comes to capacity, with an increase of just 7.5% for the current summer peak compared with summer 2022.

Tui was similarly upbeat in May when it revealed summer 2023 bookings had reached 96% of summer 2019 levels, but with average pricing up “by as much as a quarter”. It predicts a “significantly higher operating profit” this summer, and will update us on how April, May and June went on 8 August – smack bang in the middle of peak season.

’Top dollar’

All seems set fair for this summer with many bookings confirmed before interest rate rises took their toll on some homeowners, and with inflation starting to dip. Moreover, a brief look at each brand’s late sales pages in August reveals no frantic discounting.

So what could go wrong? Palmer points out “a major health warning due to circumstances out of easyJet’s control”, namely air traffic control delays that meant earlier this month it had to cancel 1,700 planned summer flights. Thankfully, its DHL ground handlers at Gatwick just this week suspended their proposed strike action to consider a new pay offer.

Jet2.com has a reputation for never cancelling flights, and with its modest capacity increase, looks unlikely to do so this summer. Tui has made no pronouncements on the issue and this late into the peak, also seems unlikely to do so.

The soaring temperatures in the Med won’t last all summer and anyway, when did it ever put off most Brits, like the thousands who relish Dubai in June?

Further ahead, there may be issues as consumers return from their summer breaks having, in many cases, paid top dollar for it, only to be confronted with the increased cost of living as we go into the winter.

For the moment, though – air traffic issues aside – all looks dandy.

Gary Noakes is TTG’s senior contributor and analyst.