EasyJet Sees A320neo Deliveries On Schedule For Next Year

UK budget carrier easyJet is expecting its 17 Airbus A320neo aircraft set for delivery in 2026 to arrive on schedule, helping its ongoing plan to drive efficiency by moving to larger aircraft, as the company revealed a rise in full-year profit helped by its holidays business.

EasyJet’s profit before tax (PBT) rose 9% to £665 million ($873 million) in the full year to end-September, while its earnings before interest and tax rose 18% year-on-year, a £106 million increase, of which the airline business accounted for £50 million and easyJet Holidays £56 million.

The results came against the backdrop of “a continued challenging external operating environment, particularly across French airspace,” CEO Kenton Jarvis said during an online video presentation, referring to French air traffic controller (ATC) strikes that often lead to wider delays, a situation also highlighted by other European airlines.

The group said easyJet Holidays had achieved a PBT of £250 million in 2025, meeting its target ahead of schedule. It now has a new target of £450 million in PBT by the 2030 financial year.

EasyJet sounded a positive note about planned aircraft deliveries from Airbus for 2026, saying visibility was improving.

“The future delivery schedule and our base fleet plan remain aligned with our guidance of last year,” CFO Jan De Raeymaeker said during the online presentation. “All 17 aircraft scheduled for delivery in the full year 2026 are expected to be delivered according to that plan and taken directly into ownership,” he said. That will take easyJet’s Neo ownership percentage to 87%.

“Confidence in the Airbus aircraft delivery profile is growing, helping to integrate timelines for up-gauging efficiencies into our plans,” De Raeymaeker added.

The airline’s orderbook out to 2034 includes an additional 219 A320neo-family aircraft plus 100 purchase rights, as easyJet seeks to up-gauge its fleet to drive cost efficiencies, gradually phasing out the less efficient, smaller A319s.

EasyJet said it had made “important capacity investments into longer leisure and city routes” as well as strategic new bases at Milan Linate, Rome Fiumicino and London Southend.

The Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino expansions, where the airline picked up remedy routes as part of Lufthansa’s investment in ITA Airways, involve eight extra aircraft and cost £20 million. A further £30 million investment is expected this winter, as the airline operates its inaugural winter season at those bases.

“We are confident that revenue will mature over the coming years as these investments embed themselves into our route network,” De Raeymaeker said.

EasyJet also noted that it had closed its bases in Toulouse and Venice due to underperformance, moving aircraft and reallocating deliveries to better performing locations.

“We continue to be ... strict when it comes to closing bases that are not delivering the required profitability or don’t have enough perspective to increase their profitability,” De Raeymaeker said.

The group also said it focused on operational performance, with the implementation of proactive resilience measures before the peak summer season “resulting in on-time performance increasing three percentage points, despite the external ATC environment (particularly across France) continuing to be challenging.”

EasyJet said that bookings for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 are 81% sold, two points higher year-on-year, and it expects revenue per available seat kilometer to continue the trend seen in the second half of 2025. The second quarter of fiscal 2026 is 26% sold, a point higher year-on-year, with “pricing showing improvement as we see positive signs of route maturity benefits, partially offset by further investments into longer leisure flows and the first winter of operating Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino remedy routes.”

Referring to the capacity growth seen during the year, easyJet said that it had been mostly focused on longer leisure destinations, particularly during the winter season, with beach destinations up 12% and non-European destinations up 36%.

City destinations grew 5% year-on-year, gradually progressing to pre-COVID levels, while domestic routes saw an 8% reduction in capacity.

The group said it was confident of its target of sustainably generating more than £1 billion PBT in the long term.

“The airline PBT performance, particularly over winter, has been more challenging to improve at the rate we originally anticipated, due to the pace of route maturity and the wider geopolitical, macro-economic and competitive environment in specific markets,” easyJet said. “We are convinced that our actions through winter are the right ones to drive productivity and utilization benefits while ensuring that the airline is well prepared for the key summer season, which is vital to overall profit growth.”

Investment bank Peel Hunt wrote in a note following the results that the figures are ahead of expectations. “Forward bookings remain strong, particularly for easyJet Holidays, but we expect to cut [fiscal] ‘26 PBT by [around] 10% due to tougher winter trading and higher cost inflation.”