Easyjet sees passenger numbers lift off

 

A flurry of passengers forking out for flights abroad helped nofrills airline easyJet to report an 11% increase in passenger numbers during May.

The airline (up 1.8p to 361.35p) said it carried 4.74m people last month, up 11.3% compared to 4.26m in May last year.

Load factor - the extent to which an airline fills its seats - fell from 85.8% to 84.1%, but the airline put this down to last year's volcanic ash saga, which meant it filled empty seats in May by repatriating stranded travellers.