Budget airline easyJet yesterday revealed it had enjoyed another record summer, as it unveiled a 34% hike in annual pre-tax profits to £610 million and declared “travel remains a firm priority with consumers”.

It received a boost from its easyJet holidays business, which posted a 56% hike in pre-tax profits to £190m during the year to September 30.

And it flagged its aim of achieving annual pre-tax profits of more than £1 billion.

easyJet’s strong results come hard on the heels of record results last week from package holiday company and airline Jet2 and strong figures from British Airways owner IAG on November 8.

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And easyJet noted yesterday that it had made a record second-half profit before tax of £960m, which was up £94m on the prior financial year. Second-half passenger growth was 7%.

The second half of easyJet’s financial year takes in the peak summer holiday period.

Johan Lundgren, chief executive officer of easyJet, said: “This strong performance - resulting in a 34% increase in our annual profits - reflects the effectiveness and execution of our strategy as well as continued popularity of our flights and holidays. It also represents a significant step towards our goal of sustainably generating over £1 billion annual profit before tax.”

John Moore, senior investment manager at stockbroker RBC Brewin Dolphin, said: “Demand for holidays continues to prove resilient, despite fears over the pent-up demand from the pandemic dissipating and the cost of living crisis taking its toll on household spending.”

He added: “easyJet is beginning to soar after a challenging few years. The difficult decisions made during the pandemic - as well as the handling of other issues since - are beginning to pay off. The airline’s results are robust, backed by strong financials, an increasingly solid balance sheet, and growth in its package holidays business. easyJet is putting the turbulence of recent years firmly behind it and looks to have a positive outlook ahead.”

Kenton Jarvis, easyJet's chief financial officer and CEO designate, said: "The outlook for easyJet is positive and travel remains a firm priority with consumers who value our low fares, unrivalled network and friendly service.

“The airline will continue to grow, particularly on popular longer leisure routes like North Africa and the Canaries and we plan to take 25% more customers away on package holidays, as easyJet holidays continues to thrive. I am looking forward to taking over the controls of this fantastic business in the new year and we still have a lot to go for as we progress towards our ambitious targets."

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Mr Lundgren said: "It has been a privilege to lead easyJet for the past seven years. I am extremely proud of all that has been achieved, which is a result of the hard work of the entire team. I am pleased to be leaving a strong easyJet, the future for the company is bright and I look forward to seeing Kenton delivering his ambitious plans, generating positive shareholder returns while making low-cost travel easy for millions of customers."

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “easyJet has continued its upward trajectory, cashing in on strong demand from sunseekers, to deliver another record-breaking summer. The revenue and profit uplift were largely fuelled by more holidaymakers snapping up the group’s expanded capacity, which grew 8% last year. That helped to keep planes running at over 89% full on average.

“Given the high fixed costs associated with flying planes, keeping them as full as possible is key to profitability. The package holiday arm is also really taking off, with pre-tax profits up 56% as it continues to steal market share. Growth has been impressive and there looks like a long runway ahead for this thriving segment.”

He added: “Johan Lundgren will hang up his cap in January after piloting the group for seven years. Change always brings some level of uncertainty but, with current CFO Kenton Jarvis ready to step into the CEO cockpit, any turbulence in the transition is likely to be minimal. The new captain will have a lot of work to do to steer the group towards its ambitious, mid-term pre-tax profit targets, aiming for over £1bn annually. But easyJet looks well placed within its sector and comes with growth opportunities that aren’t baked into the current valuation.”

Jet2 last week reported a 16% rise in pre-tax profits before foreign exchange revaluation to £772.4 million for the six months to September 30. And it was upbeat about the outlook.

It revealed that average package holiday pricing remained “resilient”, increasing by 6% to £904 per person in the six months to September from £855 in its previous first half “as supply-led inflationary increases were passed on”.

Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2, declared last week: “Even in difficult economic times, the annual overseas holiday remains a highly valued and eagerly anticipated experience, often taking precedence over other discretionary spend.”

British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia owner International Airlines Group earlier this month also flagged the strength of demand for travel.

When it announced third-quarter results on November 8, IAG declared: “Demand remains strong in all our core markets.”

It flagged buoyant demand for leisure travel.