‘Unacceptable challenges’ of French ATC strikes condemned by easyJet boss 

The boss of easyJet has criticised French air traffic control (ATC) strikes at the start of the summer peak flying season.

 

Chief executive Kenton Jarvis joined rival Ryanair in condemning the walkouts.

 

Speaking as the budget carrier reported a £50 million year-on-year improvement in third quarter profits to £286 million, he said: “We are extremely unhappy with the strike action by the French ATC in early July, which as well as presenting unacceptable challenges for customers and crew also created unexpected and significant costs for all airlines.”

 

The airline said “proactive resilience actions” significantly enhanced the daily operational performance in the June quarter.

 

This resulted in a four percentage point improvement in both on-time performance and customer satisfaction scores. 

 

Package holiday arm easyJet holidays “continues to perform strongly” with quarterly pre-tax profit up £13 million year-on-year to £86 million.

 

Jarvis added: “EasyJet holidays remains on track to deliver more than £235 million of profits for the full year and we see a positive outlook for the group for full year ’25 and beyond, as we continue to focus on progressing towards our medium-term targets.”

 

He also said: “We performed well in the quarter, increasing profits alongside improving operational performance which has boosted easyJet’s customer satisfaction scores and we continued to see strong demand from our customers.”

 

Passenger numbers in the three months to June 30 rose by 2% to 25.9 million over the same quarter last year, with improved profits “driven by strong demand for easyJet’s primary airport network and benefits from the timing of Easter”.

 

The outlook for the remainder of the financial year “remains positive, with good profit growth expected year on year, albeit impacted by recent higher fuel costs and the scale of industrial action by French air traffic control,” the airline noted.

 

However, easyJet echoed rival Jet2 by saying: “The trend towards later bookings continues to be seen, meaning the final outcome for full year ’25 will, as always, depend on late summer bookings and the associated yields.”

 

The airline reported that 67% of fourth-quarter capacity had been sold.

 

Total costs excluding fuel are expected to “slightly increase year-on-year due to lower capacity growth compared to H1’25 and the continued worsening ATC environment. However, the proactive resilience actions implemented by easyJet are enhancing the underlying daily operational performance”.