Business travel milestone for easyJet
EasyJet claims it has carried a record 12 million business travellers in the 12 months to end of March 2014 – the first time the airline has reached that milestone.
The airline said in 2010 it carried 8.4 million passengers on business, so it has increased business traveller numbers by 44% while still retaining yields.
One in five of its 62 million passengers are now travelling for business, it claims.
The rise is thanks to deals with travel management companies, private companies and public sector organisations, plus the development of business-focused products and fares.
"Enhancements like allocated seating, Inclusive Fares and Fast Track security have all played a part in enabling easyJet to attract more high yielding business passengers and to win a larger slice of the corporate market," said chief executive Carolyn McCall.
"Recession and austerity has also encouraged business passengers across Europe to sample easyJet and when they do so they like the experience and the great value and they tend to stay with us.
"The increase in business travellers could also be seen as an encouraging sign of the increasing confidence of businesses across Europe as a number of countries, including the UK, start to edge back into economic growth."
The airline released the business travel figures as it announced its half-year financial results.
It managed to cut its winter losses by more than 13% from £61 million last winter to £53 million for the six months to March 31.
Total revenue per seat rose by 1.5% to £54.80 which easyJet said was driven, in part, by a number of digital and revenue management initiatives, increased average sector length and allocated seating.
Meanwhile, average load factors increased by 0.4 percentage points to 89.0% whilst capacity grew by 3.6% to 31.1 million seats.
In the UK, easyJet said it has a 20% market share, making it the largest short-haul airline.
It increased UK capacity by 5.1% in the six months to 31 March 2014 by starting 17 new routes and continuing to increase frequencies on existing routes.
This summer easyJet expects to grow overall capacity (measured in seats flown) by 6.7%, with around a third of this growth coming from the acquisition of the Flybe slots at Gatwick.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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