EasyJet October Passengers, Load Factor Rise

(RTTNews) - UK-based low-cost airline easyJet Plc (ESYJY.PK, EZJ.L) Wednesday reported higher passengers and load factor for the month of October, even as it canceled more flights due to the strikes at French and Italian airports.

The number of passengers, which represents the number of earned seats flown, in October rose 5.4 percent to 5.53 million from 5.25 million a year before.

Since easyJet is a no-refund airline, earned seats for the company include seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up. Once a flight has departed, a no-show customer is generally not entitled to change flights or seek a refund. Earned seats also include seats provided for promotional purposes and to staff for business travel.

Monthly load factor, which stands for the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, rose 0.7 percentage points to 89.1 percent from 88.4 percent last year.

The airline canceled 179 flights during the recent month, against 27 last year, driven mainly by air traffic control strikes at French and Italian airports.

For the rolling 12 months ending October, passengers improved 4 percent and load factor advanced 0.8 percentage points.

In September, the airline carried 5.71 million passengers, up 4.8 percent from the previous year, while load factor improved 1.2 percentage points to 89.7 percent from 88.5 percent.

EasyJet last month lifted its outlook for full-year pre-tax profit, on strong demand in July and August. The firm said it expects full year profit before tax in the range of 470 million pounds to 480 million pounds, compared to the previous outlook of 450 million pounds to 480 million pounds.

In contrast, Irish peer Ryanair Holdings Plc. (RYA.L, RYAAY) earlier this week cut its full year profit forecast, citing a fall in average prices.

EZJ.L is gaining 2 percent in early morning trading at 1,227 pence.