Easy Jet sees strong demand

The impact of promotional offers meant no-frills operator easyJet kept its planes flying at near to capacity during June, figures showed today.

The Luton-based firm said its load factor – a measure of how full its planes are – stood at 86.9%, marginally ahead of the same month last year.

EasyJet recently offered up to 20% off two million seats between June 16 and July 17, following a similar promotion covering May and June as competition in the sector intensified in the face of weaker consumer spending.

Issuing statistics for June, easyJet said it carried 4.11 million passengers last month, an increase of 19.5% on a year earlier. The figure benefited from the acquisition of GB Airways from British Airways at the start of this year.

The company also said revenues per seat continued to improve and that nearly 70% of the seats available for the second half of the year had been sold.

Shares in the airline opened 3% higher today.

Operators such as easyJet are fighting to fill their planes at a time when the industry is facing oil prices of almost 150 US dollars a barrel.

Rival Ryanair recently stepped up the pressure by offering 250,000 one-way seats for £10.

British Airways showed the impact of the difficult environment when it said on Thursday that it carried 2.91 million passengers in June – a 2.9% drop on the June 2007 total.

BA passenger numbers fell in all sectors last month, with UK and Europe traffic down 2%, North and South America (including the Caribbean) dipping 3.4%, Asia Pacific falling 2.9% and Africa and the Middle East sliding 7.6%.

BA planes were 76.7% full in June, compared with 80.5% in June last year.

Three airlines have so far gone bust as a result of the soaring costs as well as a tougher economic climate. Luton-based business class carrier Silverjet called in administrators last month, following the demise of Stansted to US all-business class carriers Eos and MAXjet.