EasyJet holidays confident of 15% year-on-year passenger growth

The chief executive of easyJet holidays is confident the operator can achieve 15% year-on-year passenger growth after a “really positive” start to peaks.

Speaking to Travel Weekly at an event to celebrate easyJet’s 30th anniversary in central London, Garry Wilson said sales “really picked up” last week following a slower period and have continued to perform well.

“I think people really didn’t want to go out when it was really cold two weeks ago, but last week it really picked up and has maintained at that level since then,” he said.

“We said we’ll be 15% up in terms of growth [in passengers] this year and we’re really confident we’ll hit that.”

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EasyJet holidays carried 3.1 million passengers in the 2025 financial year, up 20% year on year, with Wilson forecasting a total surpassing 3.5 million this year.

Wilson said peak summer is selling well, particularly four-star hotels in traditionally popular destinations such as Alicante, Greece and the Canaries.

“Unsurprisingly there are no great surprises in terms of what’s performing well; cities is doing particularly well in lates,” he added.

Wilson reported growing interest in easyJet holidays’ new premium brand, the Luxury Collection, with the first holidays departing in April.

“It’s selling much better than we thought and the average selling price is about four times higher than our average,” he said.

“Travel agents are really supporting it, which I think demonstrates our strong relationship with the trade.”

Wilson said the operator’s trade ties have been forged by “honest, open conversations from when we launched back in 2019”.

“We were conscious that the relationship between the trade and operators can be fractious at times and I was therefore keen to have open, honest discussions from the very start,” he explained.

“That relationship has stood us in really good stead, which has been highlighted by how the trade has really got behind our launches at Newcastle, Southend and Birmingham.”

Wilson was not phased by Jet2’s imminent launch at Gatwick, saying: “Gatwick is our bread and butter and we’re not seeing any slowdown in demand from there.”