BUDGET airline easyJet said more travellers were seeking a winter break than last year as the popularity of low-cost carriers continues to gather pace.
The company, based in Luton, carried 1.7m people last month - up 16 per cent on December 2002.
Arch rival Ryanair remained the dominant force in the low-cost sector, with figures released yesterday showing it flew two million passengers last month.
But whereas Ryanair saw more seats go unfilled last month, easyJet said it had cut the number of unsold tickets for flights over Christmas.
Ryanair's load factor, which measures the proportion of available seats filled, fell to 83 per cent last month compared with 85 per cent a year earlier, while easyJet managed a figure of 80 per cent in December - up from 77 per cent a year ago.
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