EasyJet closes gap on Ryanair

EASYJET is hot on the heels of arch-rival Ryanair in the bums-on-seats dogfight among budget airlines.

The group, founded by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Iaonnou, said its planes were 88.1% full last month - up 2.5 percentage points on the same month a year ago.

That puts it just behind Ryanair's 90% load factor but keeps clear blue sky between it and British Airways, at 76.6%, in Europe.

Today's figures highlight the dramatic growth in the size of easyJet's operations in the past year, as its passenger numbers for July totalled 2.4m - just 67,000 fewer than Ryanair and 28% more than a year ago.

EasyJet, said the outlook on profits for the current year remained unchanged from the position it outlined with its June profit warning.

Chief executive Ray Webster, referring to profits yielded from its flights, said: 'Yields remain under pressure.'

The price war among budget airlines, which Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has described as 'a bloodbath', has caused huge damage to Britain's struggling package tour operators.