Easyjet sees passenger numbers take off

Easyjet was lifted by growth in customer numbers last month, but has warned about the continued impact of industrial action in France.

The budget airline’s passenger numbers were up by 4.5 per cent in July from 8.17 million to 8.54 million.

This brought the rolling, 12-month total of passenger numbers to 83.64 million by the end of last month, a 6.2 per cent increase year-on-year.

Easyjet’s load factor, a measure of how well airlines fill their planes, was 96.9 per cent, up from 96.8 per cent in July last year.

The numbers were an improvement on June’s figures, when the number of passengers flown rose 2.3 per cent to 7.9 million.

The airline cancelled nearly 1,300 flights in June, with around 900 due to French and Italian strike action and a further 150 caused by air traffic control (ATC) restrictions and poor weather.

Easyjet said the same factors meant it had cancelled a number of flights in July.