Easyjet carried more than 10 million business travellers during 2012 - the first time it has broken through this milestone in a year.
The no-frills airline, which continues to target the corporate market, announced today (January 24) that it had passed the 10 million mark in December for passengers travelling on business during a 12-month period.
Overall Easyjet saw total revenue rise by 9.2 per cent to £833 million during the three months between October and December 2012. The airline said it had benefited from higher load factors, advertising campaigns and capacity reductions by competitors.
Easyjet carried a total of 13.7 million passengers during the three-month period with a load factor of 88.6 per cent up by 1 percentage point on the same period in 2011.
The airline said that it had “continued to make progress during the quarter to attract more passengers travelling on business to the airline”.
Easyjet added that it expected to benefit from a deal signed in November to provide flights to employees working in the Scottish public sector.
“It will deliver low-cost, flexible fares on business trips between Scotland and London to employees within public sector organisations such as NHS Scotland, the police force, local government and MSPs,” said the airline in a statement. “In total, around 25% of people in employment in Scotland will be covered by the deal.”
Easyjet said the good start to the financial year should help to cut its winter season losses to £50-£75 million for the six months to March 31, 2013. This compares to a loss of £112 million during the previous winter. Although this forecast does not take into account the potential losses from the bad weather around Europe in the first few weeks of 2013.
Carolyn McCall, Easyjet’s chief executive said: “Easyjet has made a strong start to the year due to a combination of management action, competitor capacity reductions and the benign operating environment.
“The good performance in the quarter and the structurally advantageous position that Easyjet occupies in the European short-haul market means we remain confident in our outlook for the business.”