Low-cost airline easyJet PLC (EZJ.L) on Tuesday reported increases in load factor and number of passengers for the month of September 2009.
Load factor, or the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, for the month rose 1.2 percentage points to 88.1% from 86.9% in the prior-year month. The company noted that no weighting of the load factor is carried out to recognize the effect of varying flight or stage lengths.
The company's passengers in September increased 5.3% to 4.4 million from 4.2 million reported in September of the previous year.
easyJet 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.
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.
Last month, easyJet said its August load factor increased by 0.5% year-over-year to 91.8% from 91.3%, while the number of passengers increased by 4.7% to 4.80 million passengers from 4.59 million passengers for the same period last year.
For the rolling 12-month-period ended September 2009, passengers grew 3.4% to 45.16 million from 43.67 million. Load factor for the rolling 12 months rose 1.4 percentage points to 85.5% from 84.1% in the previous year.
easyJet said last month that it plans to close its East Midlands base and reduce Luton flying program by up to 20%. The company plans to re-deploy its East Midlands and Luton aircraft in profitable bases, largely in continental Europe.
Although the economic crisis has reduced travel, budget airliners have managed to stay afloat as more and more people are trying to reduce expenses. Monday, Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA.L, RYAAY) said its September passengers traffic increased 17% to 6.12 million from 5.23 million in the year-ago period. The Irish airline's load factor for the month rose to 85% from 84% in the prior year period.
The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, issued a revised global financial forecast last month, which sees deeper than the previously projected losses in 2009 owing to rising fuel costs and falling yields. Passenger traffic is now expected 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.
British Airways plc (BAY, BAY.L, BAIRY.PK), which relies heavily on transatlantic premium traffic, on Monday reported a 0.8% decline in traffic for September to 9.83 billion from 9.91 billion in the same period last year. Total passengers carried during the month were 2.92 million, down 1.7% from 2.97 million in the year ago period. The airline noted that market conditions in September remained unchanged, with yields under pressure from the year-over-year impact of lower fuel surcharges, exchange movements and mix. The airline's cargo fell by 2.6%.
EZJ.L closed Monday's regular trade at 378.90 pence, up 8.70 pence or 2.35%, on 816,179 shares.
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