A first-quarter trading for easyJet PLC (LSE:EZJ) showed a 7% rise in passenger numbers compared to a year ago and a fall in costs.
Fuel costs per available seat kilometres (CASK) were reduced by 13% year-on-year in the three months ending 31 December 2024.
With flat CASK excluding fuel this meant that total CASK was down 4%.
Chief executive Kenton Jarvis said the quarter saw losses reduced by 52% thanks to the higher number of customers and lower costs.
Profits of £43 million were made by the holidays business, around a 40% increase in profits during the period.
The underlying results for the first-half of the financial year will reflect the improvements this past quarter, the airline said, partially offset by second-quarter underlying unit revenue trends being "modestly lower" than Q1, as investments in capacity to drive average seat kilometres 14% year-on-year.
"Looking to this summer, we have seen continuing demand for easyJet's flights and holidays where we have one million more customers already booked," Jarvis said.
He said it "demonstrates positive progress towards our medium term target to deliver more than one billion pounds of profit before tax".