EasyJet passenger numbers soar

This Is Money13 April 2012

EASYJET kept up the pressure on rival low-cost carriers by announcing today that it carried 28.9% more passengers last month and reduced the number of vacant seats on its planes.

The Luton-based airline said it carried 2.57m people in March as travellers took advantage of the Easter holidays and the benefits from its expansion in Europe flowed through.

Shares rose nearly 3% as the rise in passenger traffic marked a significant improvement on the 16.3% increase in February. EasyJet added that its load factor - how full its aircraft were - rose 4.3 percentage points to 91.2% compared with a year ago.

The statistics were released just a fortnight after easyJet said it was winning the battle to shield its profits from soaring fuel prices, with operating margins during the six months to 31 March on a par with a year earlier.

{1}Oil is currently 50% more expensive than a year ago and the past six months have seen the cost of crude set a string of new records, culminating in a high of above $57 a barrel.

EasyJet, founded by Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, flies to 60 airports and has developed new bases over the past year in Berlin and Dortmund. It will pass a milestone this month when it receives its 100th aircraft.

It added last month that the timing of Easter meant revenues per passenger in the first half of its financial year were likely to rise by between 1% and 2% over the same period of 2004.

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