easyJet says UK travellers have stopped booking flights in advance
Key Points
- easyJet's Q3 headline profit before tax fell 70% to £85 million as the Middle East conflict hit fuel prices and forward bookings
- Travellers are now booking overwhelmingly in the month of departure, with earlier bookings still needing price stimulation
- The airline is 68% sold for Q4, 2ppts behind last year, an improvement from 3ppts behind in May
- Every 1ppt movement in Q4 unit revenue equates to roughly £33 million
- Early Q1 2027 bookings show ticket yields up mid-single digits as confidence recovers
British holidaymakers have stopped booking flights weeks in advance, and easyJet is cutting fares to lure them back, the airline revealed alongside a 70% drop in quarterly profit to £85 million.
The budget carrier said in its Q3 trading update that demand collapsed into a last-minute pattern after the Middle East conflict began in March, with strong bookings in the month of departure failing to fully offset weakness further out.
Bookings beyond the month of departure are only now beginning to recover, and easyJet admitted they still need “some price stimulation” (discounting) to get travellers to commit.
The shift has left the airline flying fuller planes at lower prices. Revenue per available seat kilometre fell 3% year-on-year in the quarter to 30 June 2026, while load factor slipped 1.3 percentage points to 88.9%. Passenger numbers held broadly flat at 25.8 million across 159,711 flights.
Kenton Jarvis, easyJet’s Chief Executive, said pricing had been “attractive”, driving strong late booking demand for flights and holidays.
“As consumer confidence increases, we are seeing the load factor gap close for peak summer and an extension of the booking curve as customers continue to prioritise travel and take advantage of our great fares,” Jarvis said.
easyJet has sold 68% of its seats for the final quarter of its financial year, which covers the peak months of July to September.
That sits 2 percentage points behind the same point last year, though it marks an improvement from the 3-point deficit the airline reported at its half-year results in May. Booked ticket yields for the quarter are currently flat year-on-year.
easyJet said every one percentage point movement in fourth-quarter unit revenue equates to approximately £33 million.
There are early signs the booking curve is stretching back out. The first quarter of easyJet’s 2027 financial year, covering October to December 2026, is 19% sold, till 2 points behind last year, but ticket yields on those bookings are running up mid-single digits.
Iran and fuel prices made a bad quarter worse
The reluctance of travellers to commit early, combined with a £105 million year-on-year jump in fuel costs, was driven by the unhedged portion of easyJet’s consumption after jet fuel prices peaked at roughly $1,800 per metric tonne in April.
Fuel unit costs rose 13% in the quarter, while non-fuel unit costs increased 3%, in line with the airline’s guidance.
Group revenue still edged up 2% to £2.98 billion, helped by a 3% rise in ancillary revenue and a 14% jump at easyJet holidays, which delivered £84 million in profit before tax and grew customer numbers 8% in what the company called a competitive environment.
easyJet said the final outcome for its 2026 financial year depends on the remaining bookings and volatile fuel prices, with 79% of fourth-quarter fuel hedged at $786 per metric tonne against a current spot price of $1,275.
The airline maintained its medium-term target of more than £1 billion in profit before tax as conditions normalise.
