Low cost airline Easyjet said today passenger numbers in May rose 95.9 per cent on the same month last year.
The airline, battling for market share with Ryanair, said it carried 1.8 million passengers during the month. It had a load factor - the average number of seats sold on flights as a percentage of capacity - of 83.5 per cent in May, up from 82.1 per cent last year.
"The market softness that we witnessed earlier in the year due to the effects of the Gulf conflict is now dissipating and we have seen a strong recovery," said chief executive Mr Ray Webster.
For the 12 months to May 31st, Easyjet had 18.1 million passengers, ahead of Ryanair's 16.7 million.