Budget Airline Lifted By GB Acquisition

Low-cost airline easyJet said yesterday its pounds103million acquisition GB Airways had traded well during its transition from previous owner British Airways.

The group posted a 22% rise in passenger numbers to 3.24millionlast month, with GB contributing a 4.4% improvement to 201,000.

EasyJet said it was pleased that GB’s load factor, a measure of how full its planes were, remained strong during the month – up 7.9 percentage points at 90.5% – despite the airline’s winding down as a BA franchise.

GB is primarily a Gatwick-based operator, covering destinations across southern Europe and northern Africa with a fleet of 15 Airbus aircraft. The load factor for easyJet planes rose 1.4% to 84.3%, largely as a result of the impact of an air-traffic control strike in France last month. Passenger numbers were ahead 14.8% to 3.04million.

Its shares closed 6.75p higher at 416.5p.

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