Christmas and New Year holidays gave a boost to discount airline easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) as it reported strong year-on-year growth in both passenger numbers and its load factor in December.
The FTSE 100-listed firm transported 5.6 million passengers in December, up over 15% from the 4.8 million passengers it carried a year earlier, while its load factor – how full its planes were - increased to 89.9% from 86.6%.
On a rolling annualised basis, easyJet’s passenger numbers rose to 74.5 million, up 6.6% from 69.8 million in November, but its load factor slipped to 91.5% from 91.6%.
On Wednesday, rival low-cost airlines Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON:RYA)and Wizz Air Holdings PLC (LON:WIZZ) also both posted strong growth in traffic and load factor last month.
Irish carrier Ryanair said its passenger numbers rose to 9.0 million in December, up from 7.5 million a year earlier, with its load factor increasing to 94% from 91%.
Meanwhile, Eastern and Central Europe-focused airline Wizz said its passengers grew to 1.9 million, up from 1.5 million a year earlier, as its load factor rose to 87.3% from 85.1%.