Passengers send easyJet soaring

BUSINESS is booming at easyJet but the budget airline says its visibility remains cloudy and it has a 'limited' ability to predict the industry's outlook.

The Luton-based carrier revealed soar-away passenger numbers today, after a bumper January in which 2.08m people flew with the no-frills outfit.

This represents a 23.8% jump on the same month last year and for the 12 months to the end of January the total number of passengers carried reached 26.1m, up 22.8% on the previous 12 month period.

Chief executive Ray Webster said first-quarter performance remained positive, buoyed by a good start in January. But, he admitted, the business remained tough.

'We base the yield assumptions in our longer-term business plan on an outlook for continued intense competition. To date the second quarter is performing positively. However, as with any airline, visibility remains limited, and part of the positive performance will be due to the timing of Easter,' Webster added.

Yields, the all-important indicator of profit per passenger also held up well. And load factor, the proportion of passengers to seats available was 76.4%, down 0.8%. Total revenue per passenger in the quarter to the end of December was down slightly at £41.87, another 0.8% fall, but easyJet said that while average fares went down 2% to £39.04, efforts to make up this money elsewhere had paid off.

EasyJet, like its rival Ryanair, has looked to other sources besides fares to raise revenue from passengers. The focus on ancillary revenue, such as excess baggage charges, proved successful as contributions per passenger from these extra sources rose 21% during the last quarter of the year.

EasyJet's apparent continuing good fortune contrasts with difficulties at rival Ryanair, which last week revealed a 26% drop in third-quarter profits to £24m as higher oil prices and a collapse in fares took their toll.

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary, meanwhile, is continuing to resist a £40m claim from BAA over allegedly unpaid landing fees at Stansted. That claim is set to end up in court next year.