EasyJet, the budget airline, is leading the FTSE 250, up over 17% to 366p after raising full year profits guidance.
Having set out last year to lure more business passengers, EasyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall revealed that the number of corporate travellers had jumped by a fifth in the quarter to 30 June, helping to boost revenues by 23% to £935m.
McCall said:
The strong operational and commercial performance in the quarter reflects the continued successful implementation of the strategy we outlined last November.
The Luton based airline said it had already sold around three quarters of the seats on its summer flights.
EasyJet brought its trading statement forward to tell investors it expects full-year pretax profits of between £200m and £230m, at current fuel and exchange rates.
Analysts expected the airline to report a 2010/2011 pretax profit of £184m, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
EasyJet carried 14.4m passengers in the quarter, up 17.3%. Punctuality has improved, with 80% of flights landing on time in the quarter. Revenue or 'yield' per passenger has also increased, up 2.5%, boosted by higher income from fees for bags per passenger.
Investec, which has EasyJet as a buy, said:
Traffic statistics have been very strong in recent months, leading bears to question the yields being achieved - this statement should go some way to mitigate those concerns.
Aside from the danger of rising fuel costs, against which the airline has already hedged, the biggest cloud on its horizon is in the shape of Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who remains the largest shareholder. The founder has said he wants to force a shareholder vote of a plan to buy new aircraft from Airbus.
