EasyJet holidays made a record profit of £16 million in the third quarter of 2022.

In a trading update for the three months to the end of June, easyJet plc said its tour operation will ‘be on track to serve 1.1 million customers in the full year’.

The company reported a Q3 pre-tax headline loss for the group of £114 million, saying it suffered a £133 million cost impact from disruption.

The airline flew 22 million passengers, more than seven times higher than the same period last year and operated 95% of its planned schedule, despite what it called ‘widespread operational challenges’.

EasyJet put the challenges down to an ‘unprecedented ramp up across the aviation industry, coupled with a tight labour market [which] resulted in widespread operational challenges culminating in higher levels of cancellations than normal’.

The airline said July operations have been ‘much improved’, adding: “EasyJet remains focused on ensuring smooth operations this summer and will continue to fine tune our schedule if required.”

Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said: “Delivering for customers this summer remains our highest priority.”

“During the quarter we carried seven times more customers than the same time last year and operated 95% of our schedule.

“We have taken action to build the additional resilience needed this summer and the operation has now normalised.

“Despite the loss this quarter due to the short-term disruption issues, the return to flying at scale has demonstrated that the strategic initiatives launched during the pandemic are delivering now and with more to come.”

Sold ticket prices for the fourth quarter are currently 13% higher than they were in the full year of 2019.