easyJet traffic takes off in July

Budget airline easyJet saw an increase in the number of passengers it carried in July, the company said on Thursday.

In a short statement, the carrier reported a 9.4% increase year-on-year in the number of passengers it carried in July, as a total of 7.036m travellers boarded easyJet's flights last month.

Increase in the number of passengers lifted the load factor, a crucial gauge in the aviation industry as it measures the number of seats that have been filled on an aircraft, up by 1.4 percentage points to 94.3%.

In the 12 months to the end of July, the number of passengers carried increased 6.1% year-on-year to 67.71m, while the load factor climbed 1.2 percentage points to 91.4%.

easyJet shares were up 0.47% to 1,716.00p at 0814 BST on Thursday.