Budget carrier easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) flew almost half-a-million more passengers in January than it did a year earlier, but there are signs that growth is starting to slow.
The orange and white liveried airline carried 5.16mln people last month, up 8.7% compared to the same month in 2017 (Jan 2017: 4.75mln).
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Load factor – a key industry metric which shows how full a plane is – rose 2.2 percentage points to 88.4% (Jan 2017: 86.2%).
Passenger numbers in the industry have been on an upward trajectory for a little while now on the back of lower prices, sparked by intense competition within the sector. That has hampered margins and weighed on profits.
Slowing growth
A rising top line, buoyed by higher passenger numbers, has offset some of that though, but there are signs that even that is starting to slow now.
On an annualised basis – January 2017 to January 2018 – the number of travellers grew 9.5% and, while that seems healthy, it is third month in a row that growth has slowed (Dec: 9.6%, Nov: 10.7%). It is also the weakest rate of growth since last summer.
easyJet shares dipped 2% to £16.09 early on Tuesday.