Easy Jet lifted by business passengers

EASYJET’S seduction of business passengers helped it narrow its half-year losses, despite a fall-off in traffic on its new Moscow route due to the Ukraine crisis.

The airline posted a forecastbeating pre-tax loss of £53m in the first half, when airlines traditionally lose money, a 13.6pc improvement on the £61m reported at the same stage of last year.

Business passengers grew by 8.5pc, beating overall traffic growth of 4pc, driving group revenue up 6.3pc to £1.7bn.

In the past four years, easyJet’s pursuit of business travellers has delivered a traffic increase of 44pc to 12m from a lucrative segment of the market, thanks in large part to the introduction of allocated seating.

But boss Carolyn McCall said leisure passengers, who make up 80pc of easyJet’s trade, would ‘always be the bedrock’ of the airline.

She added EasyJet was retaining an ‘astounding’ 95pc of passengers, in business and leisure, who first tried the airline as a cheaper option during the recession.

EasyJet launched a new Moscow route last year and McCall admitted diplomatic tension between Russia and the Ukraine had already hit outbound travel. Shareholders were given £308m in the first half, or 77.6p per share, from the group’s ordinary dividend and a one- off ‘ special’ payment.

Despite the positive numbers, easyJet’s shares fell 72p to 1658p, as traders took profits following a strong performance by the shares, up 45pc in the past 12 months.