By Victoria Masterson

Family holidays aren’t going anywhere – despite household finances being tighter.

This was the verdict of analysts reviewing latest quarterly trading numbers from easyJet, Britain’s biggest budget airline.

There was a collective sigh of relief at the company’s bullish update – after weak numbers from rival airline Ryanair earlier in the week spooked investors and led to a sell-off in airline shares.

For the three months to 30 June 2024, easyJet reported a 16% jump in pre-tax profits to £236m, on revenues up 11% to £2.63 billion.

An 8% increase in passenger numbers to more than 25m people and stellar growth in the company’s five-year-old tour operator arm, easyJet holidays, were key drivers.

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EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said the performance showed the “continued importance of travel” and predicted a “record-breaking summer” for the airline.

There are no signs that the cost of living crisis will lead to consumers cancelling their holiday plans, suggested Richard Hunter, an analyst at online investment service Interactive Investor.

“There seems to be an increasing body of evidence to suggest that the family holiday remains almost sacrosanct and outside of normal budgetary restraints,” he said.

This has played into the hands of easyJet and its keenly priced offerings of flights and holiday packages.

“Its network of destinations are usually convenient and difficult for some of its competitors to mirror, while the group has also managed to keep a relative lid on its prices,” Mr Hunter added.

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But flying is unpredictable – as demonstrated by last week’s global IT outage, which caused thousands of flights to be cancelled.

This event was the latest example of “a litany of external factors outside of the industry’s control” which have historically made airlines such a difficult sector to invest in, Mr Hunter observed.

These factors have included strike action, conflicts, volcanic ash clouds – and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a note on the easyJet update, John Moore, senior investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin, said: “Concerns over the longevity of the post-Covid travel boom will likely hang over airlines for some time yet.”

He noted that easyJet’s shares were down 15% in the year to date. But the airline also seems to be in a better place than others in the sector.

“Today’s results demonstrate that easyJet is in a better position than many of its peers and should be able to pull through this turbulent spell,” Mr Moore added.