EasyJet business soars away

Budget airline easyJet enjoyed good business in May, with passenger numbers rising to more than 1.75 million.

The May 2003 total was 95.9% up on the same month last year but the May 2002 figures did not include passenger numbers for low-cost carrier Go, now taken over by easyJet.

A more meaningful comparison is with the combined May 2002 figure of 1.46 million passengers for easyJet and Go, then independent of easyJet.

EasyJet’s planes were 83.5% full on average in May 2003 compared with 82.1% in May 2002.

“The market softness that we witnessed earlier in the year due to the effects of the Gulf conflict is now dissipating and we have seen a strong recovery,” said easyJet chief executive Ray Webster.

He added that easyJet was now the number one carrier at Geneva airport with a 25.9% market share, putting it ahead of British Airways, Air France and Switzerland’s newly-formed airline Swiss.