Easy Jet flies high on summer boom

SHARES in Easyjet climbed nearly 6pc as it raised its full year profit forecast after holidaymakers desperate for summer sun helped it post record passenger numbers in August.

The budget airline said that it expects profits to reach as much as £700m, more than 20pc ahead of the previous year.

The news was welcome relief for shareholders following a warning in May after strikes by French traffic control workers and fires at Rome’s Fiumicino airport disrupted flights.

The search for sunshine after a rainy August led to a spate of last-minute bookings, and the weak euro against the pound increased the demand for flights from Britain to the continent.

Popular locations included Spain’s Barcelona, Palma and Malaga, as well as Nice in France.

Bookings were also made later than normal after people changed plans following the terrorist attack in Tunisia and issues in Greece earlier in the summer.

The increase in demand saw Easyjet report record passenger numbers for August with 7.06m passengers flying, the second successive month of more than 7m passengers. The load factor – how full its planes are – was also a record, at 94.4pc during the month, up 0.2 percentage points from August last year.

Chief executive Carolyn McCall said the airline was well placed to take advantage of the ‘strong late summer demand from UK passengers to get away to beach and city destinations across Europe’, which will enable it to set new records for full year revenue and profit.

The expected full year profits jump will be the no-frills carrier’s fifth successive year of record annual pretax profits. The company’s shares rose by 90p to 1762p.

Elsewhere, British Airways owner IAG also revealed a strong August with the number of passengers up 12.4pc to 9.1m compared to the previous August.

It also confirmed its 98pc purchase of Irish carrier Aer Lingus had completed and IAG chief executive Willie Walsh joins the Aer Lingus board as non-executive director.

IAG shares rose by 22p to 564.5p.