At EasyJet, It's Man-Versus-Machine
Bookings are down substantially for August, and the revenue management system wants to cut prices. But the humans say the bookings will return.
Dear readers,
EasyJet’s home-grown revenue management system is concerned that customers won’t show up later this summer. But the humans who oversee it have overruled the machine, and they’re keeping prices high.
“We’re putting in an overlay that’s not letting the system overreact to a drop in bookings,” chief commercial officer Sophie Dekkers told analysts last week on EasyJet’s FY2026 first half results earnings call.
Even as more airlines trust A.I. and machine learning to give them concrete answers, how to price in an uncertain environment remains a dilemma. With August bookings down 7 percent compared to expectations, EasyJet had two choices – lower its prices (as the machine would suggest), or pray for better times while managing for yield.
EasyJet opted for the second option, because its executives bet they know information about consumer behavior that the revenue management system does not. CEO Kenton Jarvis told analysts that demand is robust, just delayed compared to historical norms, because customers have been spooked by “unhelpful comments” from European politicians who fear potential fuel shortages.
Airlines now know fuel won’t be a problem, but it’s not clear that all travelers have received the message. Some have been taking a wait-and-see attitude for late-summer trips.
”People are just leaving that decision to later,” Jarvis said. ‘We don’t yet know what the fare environment will be for July, August, and September."