EasyJet revenue leapt 10.5% in the third quarter, rising to £1.142 million following a 3.6% increase in capacity and improvement in revenue per seat.
As a result, chief executive Carolyn McCall said the airline expected to make a pre-tax profit of £450 million to £480 million for the full year.
In the third quarter, revenue per seat grew by 6.1% to £61.44 per seat. The airline said the increase was driven by "network optimisation" and the on-going programme of revenue initiatives including the ‘europe by easyJet’ campaign, improvements to the revenue management system and the ‘benign capacity environment’ for easyJet.
However, the load factor of 88.2% was slightly lower than the previous year, primarily due to the fact that Easter fell a week earlier. The total number of passengers carried rose 2.6% to 16.4 million.
Cost per seat, excluding fuel, rose 4.5% due to rises in airport charges at regulated airports, especially those in Spain and Italy, together with higher than expected disruption.
Announcing the results, McCall said: "easyJet has delivered a strong performance in the third quarter in a benign capacity environment for easyJet. The strong performance demonstrates further progress against the easyJet strategy and the commitment to deliver returns and profitable growth for shareholders.
"With 73% of second half seats now booked, easyJet expects profit before tax for the year to 30 September 2013 to be between £450 million and £480 million compared to the £317 million profit before tax reported in the prior financial year assuming no further significant disruption."
