easyJet's June flights hit by French strikes

4th Jul 2013 07:04

easyJet said it cancelled 585 flights in June compared to 22 flights in the same month a year ago, due to the French Air Traffic Control strike. Thousands of flights in and out of French airports were cancelled last month as air traffic controllers were on strike following a call from unions to walk out over plans to create a single European airspace.Despite that during the month the number of passengers flying with the FTSE 100 listed low-cost airline rose 1.9% year-on-year. The load factor, the number of passengers to the number of seats available, remained unchanged versus the prior month at 89.9%.On a rolling 12 month basis until the end of June it rose to 89.2%, 50 basis points more than in the 12 months to June 2012. The total number of passengers flown increased by 4.9% on that same basis to 60,151,046. Meanwhile, the carrier's former Chief Commercial Officer, Saad Hammad, has joined struggling airline Flybe as its new boss, following the departure of Jim French.RD