EasyJet reports 24% rise in August traffic

British budget airline easyJet said today it carried 2

British budget airline easyJet said today it carried 2.46 million passengers in August, up 24 per cent from the same month of last year.

EasyJet, battling higher fuel costs and a price war with Ryanair, said its load factor, which measures the number of seats filled as a per cent age of the available capacity, rose 0.5 percentage points to 88.6 per cent .

"August was a good month for easyJet with load factors up marginally despite the late UK bank holiday pushing demand for return journeys into September," the firm said.

Airlines worldwide are recovering from a prolonged economic downturn that was exacerbated by the war on Iraq and outbreak of the SARS virus last year.

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But soaring oil prices and a price war on short-haul routes is holding back no-frills carriers.

EasyJet shares have more than halved in value this year, and plunged in June when the firm warned 2004 profits would miss analysts' forecasts.

EasyJet, which competes with British Airways on short-haul European routes, is expected to announce a reduction in its capacity growth targets as part of a strategic review to be announced later this month.