(RTTNews) - Low-cost airline easyJet Plc (EZJ.L:
News ) Thursday reported an increase in traffic and load factor for the month of October 2009.
The Luton, UK-based company's number of passengers increased 6.6% to 4.22 million from 3.96 million in the previous-year month. The company noted that passenger statistics represent the number of earned seats flown, which include seats flown whether the passenger turns up or not and seats provided for promotional purposes and to staff for business travel.
Load factor, or the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, for the month was 86.8%, up 3 percentage points from 83.9% in the prior year. easyJet noted that no weighting of the load factor is carried out to recognise the effect of varying flight lengths.
Since easyJet is a no-refund airline, once a flight has departed, a no-show customer is generally not entitled to change flights or seek a refund.
In September, the airline reported a 1.2 percentage points increase in load factor to 88.1% from 86.9% in the prior-year September. The company's number of passengers in September increased 5.3% to 4.4 million from 4.2 million reported in September of the previous year.
For the rolling 12-months ending October, load factor was 85.7%, up 1.5 percentage point from 84.2% in the same period last year. Total passengers traveled on a rolling 12-month basis increased 2.6% to 45.42 million from 44.27 million a year ago.
Among peers, Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYAAY:
News ,RYA.L:
News ) reported October load factor of 85%, flat with last year. Passenger traffic for October grew 15% to 6.16 million from 5.35 million in the year earlier period.
The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, issued a revised global financial forecast in August, which sees deeper than the previously projected losses in 2009 owing to rising fuel costs and falling yields. The agency expects passenger traffic to decline by 4.0% and cargo by 14% for 2009, compared to its earlier forecasts for declines of 8.0% and 17%, respectively. Yields are expected to fall 12% for passenger and 15% for cargo, in comparison with its June forecasts of declines of 7% and 11%, respectively.
EZJ is currently trading at 376.80 pence per share, up 0.75%, on the London Stock Exchange.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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