EasyJet has record summer as passenger numbers increase by 5.6%
The airline flew 460,000 more people despite no significant rise in load factor
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Your support makes all the difference.Easyjet flew 5.6 per cent more passengers year-on-year in August 2018, according to its latest results.
The low cost airline saw 8.68 million people board its flights last month compared to 8.22 million the previous year.
It managed to significantly up traffic despite seeing only a minor rise in load factor (how full each flight is) from 96.3 to 96.4 per cent.
On a rolling 12-month basis, easyJet carried 84,101,083 passengers – up 5.8 per cent from the same time the previous year – while the load factor rose by 1.2 per cent from 92.4 to 93.6 per cent.
The news comes after Ryanair revealed its August traffic statistics, which also showed a significant increase in passengers despite the airline’s rocky summer.
Ryanair was forced to cancel almost 550 flights, up from just 27 cancellations in August the previous year, due to strike action from its staff and industrial action by air traffic controllers.
However, passenger numbers still grew 9 per cent year on year to 13.8 million.
Pilots from Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Ireland staged a coordinated strike on 10 August, affecting 70,000 passengers, in what was the biggest day of industrial action in the airline’s history. Earlier in the summer, cabin crew from Spain, Portugal and Belgium also held a two-day walkout, grounding 600 flights.
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said: “Regrettably, over 100,000 Ryanair customers had their flights cancelled in August because of repeated ATC staff shortages in the UK, Germany and France, and one day of unnecessary pilot strikes.
“Ryanair, together with other European airlines, calls for urgent action by the EU Commission and Governments to correct these ATC staff shortages which are disrupting the travel plans of millions of Europe’s consumers this summer.”
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