Passengers may resent the fees charged by low-cost airlines for checking in baggage, but shareholders might laud them.
So-called ancillary revenues at easyJet, boosted by the introduction of a £5-a-bag tariff in October 2007, were the fastest-growing item in yesterday’s first-quarter trading update, up by a better than expected 83 per cent to £105 million, or £8.68 a passenger.
Not that the rest of the statement was any less impressive. The airline has received a significant boost from an appreciating euro, but even stripping out the effects of currencies, revenues per seat rose by an above-forecast 14 per cent.
The woes of financially weaker European rivals is part of the story. Capacity on the Italian and Spanish routes on which easyJet competes has fallen by