Tweet
</span> 
Easyjet says it plans to buy another 24 planes in the next two years
</div> Budget airline Easyjet has seen profits almost triple on rising passenger numbers and cheaper fuel.
The carrier made profits of £154m in the 12 months to September, up from £55m a year earlier.
Passenger volumes rose 8% in the year to 49 million, helping to push its share of the European market up to 7.6% from 6.5% a year earlier. Fuel costs were down 9%.
The company also said it would pay its first dividend - but not until 2012.
Easyjet is benefiting from the continuing migration of passengers on continental Europe away from national carriers towards budget airlines - a pattern already well established in its home market Britain.
"We see clear opportunities for Easyjet to continue to take market share as charter traffic continues to decline, as weaker short-haul carriers retrench or fail and as new infrastructure capacity comes on stream," said Easyjet's new chief executive, Carolyn McCall, commenting on the full-year results.
She expects low-cost carriers like her company to make further headway in France, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal in the coming months, pushing budget airlines' share of these markets to around 50%.
In anticipation of this growth, the airline announced that it would buy another 24 planes by September 2013, representing a 12% increase in its fleet.
Easyjet's fuel bill fell to £13 per plane seat, down from £15.28 a year earlier.
However, other costs rose 5.2% to £36.15 per seat. Easyjet blamed most of the rise on the disruption caused by Icelandic volcanic ash and snow earlier this year.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Easyjet says it plans to buy another 24 planes in the next two years </div> Budget airline Easyjet has seen profits almost triple on rising passenger numbers and cheaper fuel.
The carrier made profits of £154m in the 12 months to September, up from £55m a year earlier.
Passenger volumes rose 8% in the year to 49 million, helping to push its share of the European market up to 7.6% from 6.5% a year earlier. Fuel costs were down 9%.
The company also said it would pay its first dividend - but not until 2012.
Easyjet is benefiting from the continuing migration of passengers on continental Europe away from national carriers towards budget airlines - a pattern already well established in its home market Britain.
"We see clear opportunities for Easyjet to continue to take market share as charter traffic continues to decline, as weaker short-haul carriers retrench or fail and as new infrastructure capacity comes on stream," said Easyjet's new chief executive, Carolyn McCall, commenting on the full-year results.
She expects low-cost carriers like her company to make further headway in France, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal in the coming months, pushing budget airlines' share of these markets to around 50%.
In anticipation of this growth, the airline announced that it would buy another 24 planes by September 2013, representing a 12% increase in its fleet.
Easyjet's fuel bill fell to £13 per plane seat, down from £15.28 a year earlier.
However, other costs rose 5.2% to £36.15 per seat. Easyjet blamed most of the rise on the disruption caused by Icelandic volcanic ash and snow earlier this year.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.