EasyJet Chief Executive Ray Webster said that continental European regulators had cleared its acquisition of rival UK low fares airline Go-Fly. He said the British regulator remained the last hurdle.
'It's just the UK now that is outstanding and we remain very confident that it is not going to be an issue,' Webster said after the budget airline reported soaring passenger demand last month. EasyJet's CEO also said that demand for July and August was positive.
EasyJet said it carried 958,857 passengers in June, up 51.5% on last year. In a separate statement, Go said its June growth jumped 71.8% to 550,749 passengers.
The easyJet load factor, which measures the average number of seats sold as a proportion of capacity, was 86.6% in June, slightly up on the previous year. Go had a load factor of 79.5%.
Earlier this week low fares airline Ryanair said it had seen a 34% jump in passenger numbers in June compared to the same month last year. Ryanair said it sold 1,245,416 seats in June, compared with 925,966 in the same month of 2001.
Europe's low-cost airlines have been putting pressure on their full services rivals in the shorthaul market, as they win over passengers with cheaper fares as well as picking up some lucrative business travelers as many corporations cut costs.
On negotiations with Boeing and Airbus on ordering new aircraft, the EasyJet CEO said that a decision was 'not too far away now.'
