easyJet is not Ryanair. The latter's whimsical founder and CEO, Michael O'Leary, may well say that the airline industry has hardly ever been in such good shape, but his orange-hulled rival is slow to reap the rewards of this stockmarket bonanza. See Ryanair goes it alone, published earlier this week in this column.

However, there are undoubtedly signs of progress, confirming the general upward trend we described last year. 2023 benefited greatly from post-pandemic "revenge holidays," and 2024 was similarly successful, with the company achieving the best free cash flow in its history.

This positive momentum continued in H1 2025, with free cash flow close to its historic highs. Over ten years, this is the fourth best half-year for the company, whose balance sheet has been cleaned up following its last two capital increases.

H1 revenues are also the best in ten years. This is important to note because the business is seasonal, with much higher volumes in the second half of the year as it covers the summer vacation period.

The windfall enjoyed by all airlines in Europe is due to a combination of circumstances: despite the gloomy economic climate, bookings are resisting; delivery delays at Boeing and Airbus are leading to capacity restrictions and, by extension, higher revenue per seat for airlines; while oil prices are languishing at rock-bottom levels.

All this good news is not yet fully reflected in easyJet's share valuation. The airline's market capitalization, although it has rebounded in recent weeks, still reflects profit multiples that are half those generously attributed by investors to its rival Ryanair.

Those who would like to bet on a catch-up may have an interesting card to play in the short term. In the long term, it will be important not to lose sight of the fact that the destruction of value at easyJet, like so many others, has been epic — despite a doubling of revenue over the last decade.