Easyjet reports higher passenger numbers

No-frills airline easyJet reported a 13% jump in passenger numbers today as it maintained the strong rate of growth seen over the last year.

The figure of 2.9 million for the month of November was helped by the addition of eight destinations and 46 routes in the financial year to the end of September, taking its flying programme to 289 routes through 77 airports.

It said today it would introduce a further six new routes in the spring, increasing the number planned over the next six months to 18. The latest additions are Bristol to Biarritz, Split and Sardinia, Edinburgh to Nice, Glasgow to Faro and Luton to Pisa.

The company also said its aircraft flew 80.8% full in November, which represented a slight improvement on the 80.5% seen a year earlier.