Monday, low cost carrier easyJet Plc (EZJ.L) reported a 1.8 percentage points rise in load factor and 22.1% growth in passenger count for the month of September compared with the same month a year earlier.
Load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats, rose to 86.9% from prior year's 85.2%.
During the month, passengers that represent the number of earned seats flown, increased to 4.2 million from 3.4 million in the year-ago month.
The company reported a 4.0 percentage points increase in load factor to 91.3% for the month of August from 87.4% in the previous year. Number of passengers traveled during the month grew 23.7% to 4.6 million from 3.7 million a year earlier.
For the rolling 12-month period to September, load factor edged up to 84.1% from 83.7% in the previous year. Total passengers rose 17.3% to 43.7 million from 37.2 million in the same period a year ago.
Last month, Europe's second-biggest discount airliner reiterated its fiscal 2008 profit before tax outlook in the range of GBP 110 million-GBP 120 million, before GB Airways one off costs. GB Airways one off costs are expected to be about GBP 12 million.
The company also stated in September that 48% fuel requirement is hedged at $1,225 per tonne for the next financial year, while 70% of anticipated fiscal year 2009 requirement is hedged at $1.96 /GBP. About 80% of anticipated fiscal year 2009 Euro surplus is hedged at Euros1.24.
While announcing third quarter revenues on July 24, the airline company had said that 2008 - 2009 winter would be challenging for the whole airline sector due to higher fuel costs. The company's overall capacity growth for winter 2008 - 2009 was also reduced and placed in the region of 4% to 6%.
The discount carrier has 165 aircraft covering 400 routes in 26 countries with nearly half of easyJet's passengers originating outside the U.K.
EZJ.L closed Friday's trading on the LSE at 326 pence, up 4 pence or 1.24%, on a volume of 2.77 million shares.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com