Easyjet lifted by upbeat financials and bright outlook for summer

EasyJet (LSE:EZJ) shares traded up on Wednesday, finishing the session more than 5% higher, thanks to upbeat financials for its third quarter.

The short-haul airline reported quarterly profit some 16% higher to £236 million.

Revenue also saw an uptick, rising 11%, to £2.6 billion as the airline saw an 8% increase in passenger numbers, selling 28.1 million seats in the three months and marking a load factor (which measures how full flights are) of 90%.

Its package holiday business, EasyJet Holidays, meanwhile, upped its profits by 49% to £73 million.

Looking to the peak summer season, EasyJet highlighted that its bookings so far already cover 69% of its availability.

"Our strong performance in the quarter has been driven by more customers choosing easyJet for our unrivalled network of destinations and value for money,” chief executive Johan Lundgren said in a statement.

He added: “we remain on track to deliver another record-breaking summer, taking us a step closer to our medium term targets."

In London, EasyJet shares closed Wednesday up 22.4p or 5.34% at 450.1p.