Low-cost airline easyJet carried almost two million passengers in March as the popularity of no-frills travel showed no signs of tailing off.
The number of people on easyJet flights last month was more than 16 per cent higher than a year earlier, taking the total for the year to March to 21.8 million.
The Luton-based group added that its load factor - the number of passengers flown as a proportion of seats available - rose to 87 per cent from 86 per cent in 2003. The average for the last year was 84.5 per cent , easyJet added.
The airline has been further boosted by the delivery last month of four Airbus A319 aircraft - among 20 new planes set to be introduced by this summer.
EasyJet chief executive Mr Ray Webster said the new aircraft - which take the group's Airbus fleet to 10 - had been well received.
He added: "These aircraft are supporting our need for increased capacity and have consistently outperformed our expectations in terms of reliability and passenger popularity."
The improvement in passenger numbers comes as easyJet steps up its expansion with the announcement of a number of new routes.
In February, it unveiled plans to operate new flights from a base at Dortmund in Germany while customers will next month be able to fly to Budapest and Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
Mr Webster said the latest traffic statistics for March offered encouragement.
He added: "Both our passenger numbers and load factor continue to show steady improvement, reflecting the reliability and sustainability of our low-cost model in a growing and competitive market."