Downturn catches up with easyJet

EasyJet has suffered its first decline in passenger numbers since flights were disrupted by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in April 2010.

EasyJet has suffered its first decline in passenger numbers since flights were disrupted by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in April 2010.

EasyJet is braced for a difficult February, as snow disrupts air travel.

The low-cost airline said yesterday that it carried 3.73m passengers in January, a 0.4pc decline compared to the same month in 2011.

The airline has enjoyed a steady growth in passengers over the last two years but was struck by the economic downturn last month.

EasyJet is now also braced for a difficult February, as snow disrupts air travel across Europe and French airports cancel flights due to a four-day strike by workers.

Shares in easyJet fell by 7¼ to 468.9p following the traffic figures.

EasyJet has kept capacity flat over the winter in preparation for weak demand from passengers. Therefore, despite the fall in passengers, easyJet's load factor, a measure of how an airline is utilising capacity, rose three percentage points from 78.9pc to 81.9pc.

Douglas McNeill, an analyst at stockbrokers Charles Stanley, said: "Unusually, the past month has seen a year-on-year fall in passenger numbers.

"That reflects the decision to guard against the possibility of weak demand by keeping capacity more or less flat in this March quarter – indeed, there was a decrease on that measure too in January."


Source: The Telegraph