Two no-frills airlines yesterday posted a jump in passengers, despite the impact of terrorist attacks, war and the slumping global economy on travel and tourism. EasyJet carried 690,928 people during November, a 38.5 per cent increase on the previous year, while Go carried 357,327, a 63.3 per cent hike.
The rises come despite an industry-wide drop in travel, as people delay trips in light of the uncertain economic and political climate. But while high-end carriers such as British Airways (BA) have been hard-hit - earlier this week BA blamed "challenging" conditions for a 17.8 per cent slump in passengers last month - a number of budget airlines have had a better time.
Both EasyJet and Go, which was sold by BA earlier this year, have offered discounted fares since September 11th in order to keep people flying. An EasyJet spokesman said: "People are prepared to fly if the price is right and if BA cannot get their prices right, that's their problem."
A Go spokeswoman added: " is growing extremely fast so it had the capacity to capitalise when people like BA reduced their routes. We have been about to take advantage of the current climate."
