UK budget airline EasyJet said summer bookings were building strongly, even as it reported a wider first-quarter loss today, hit by expansion costs and soft winter pricing.
"This year, the traditionally busy January booking period has seen record levels in both volume and revenue, as bookings continue to build for Summer 2026," the company said.
Winter is typically the weakest period for airlines, with carriers relying on spring and summer demand to lift earnings.
EasyJet reported an operating loss of £76m in the three months to December 31, compared with a £40m loss a year earlier.
Despite this, the airline kept its 2026 outlook unchanged. Its shares rose 2% in early trading.
Separately,Wizz Air reported a third-quarter operating loss in line with expectations. Earlier this week, larger rival Ryanair raised its fare growth outlook after a strong start to 2026 bookings.
Budget carriers such as Ryanair and EeasyJet have sidestepped many of the challenges facing Europe's biggest airlines, which have been squeezed by weaker transatlantic travel linked to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump.
In November, EasyJet lifted its medium-term target for its holiday division but warned of softer winter sales.
The holiday business continued to grow, delivering a £50m pretax profit in the quarter as customer numbers jumped 20%. Forward bookings for easyJet Holidays was 47% sold for the second-half of the year, it said.
EasyJet has held talks with Elon Musk's Starlink about offering on-board Wi-Fi, but the economics do not stack up for the British budget airline at the moment, chief executive Kenton Jarvis said today.
The comments come after a social-media spat between Musk and Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary this month over the cost of fitting Starlink's Wi-Fi service.
Michael O'Leary has said the fuel drag from Wi-Fi antennae on top of planes could cost about $200m a year, and that few budget travellers would be prepared to pay for the service.
"At the moment ... where we are with our talks with Starlink, the economics aren't quite working for us," Jarvis told journalists in a post-earnings call, though he added that the product was a "really good one", with fast streaming speeds.
Jarvis said EasyJet was also talking to other providers in what he called a "rapidly changing market". The airline would keep conversations going with Starlink and other providers and continue to monitor the offerings and prices, he said.
"When the time is right, we'll pick the right service," Jarvis said, adding he was unable to say when that might be.
