EasyJet Adds 16% More Customers; Seat Occupancy Falls (Update4)

June 6 (Bloomberg) -- EasyJet Plc, Europe's second-biggest discount airline, added 16 percent more passengers in May after buying GB Airways Ltd. Seat occupancy declined for a second straight month as additional capacity went unfilled.

EasyJet carried 3.88 million travelers last month compared with 3.35 million a year earlier, the Luton, England-based carrier said in a statement today. The load factor, or proportion of seats sold, dropped 0.4 percentage point to 83.2 percent.

The 103.5 million-pound ($203 million) GB purchase was completed in January, making EasyJet the No. 1 airline at London Gatwick airport. The stock has dropped almost 50 percent this year on concern spiraling oil prices will erode profit just as slowing economies deter passengers. The shares fell as much as 7.7 percent today as crude reached a record $137.7 a barrel.

``I would have expected loads broadly flat,'' said Stephen Furlong, an analyst at Davy Stockbrokers in Dublin. ``It's a modest decline and I wouldn't hang my hat on one month. Airline stocks bounced a lot this week and oil jumped overnight, and EasyJet is very sensitive to oil.''

EasyJet declined 25.75 pence, to 307.5 pence in London, giving a market value of 1.29 billion pounds.

Other airline stocks also plummeted as crude jumped by more than $9 a barrel. British Airways Plc fell 8.2 to 233.5 pence, the biggest drop since Nov. 5, 2002, and Air France-KLM Group slipped 6 percent to 16.37 euros. Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest discount carrier, dropped 6.5 percent to 3.02 euros.

EasyJet began 11 new routes last month, including services to the Greek islands of Mykonos and Crete from Gatwick and Manchester respectively. It will add 19 percent more capacity this summer as it takes delivery of more fuel-efficient planes.

Passenger numbers rose 15 percent to 40.6 million in the 12 months through May. The load factor slipped 0.8 percentage point to 83.2 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tracy Alloway in London at talloway@bloomberg.net; Jann Bettinga in Frankfurt at jbettinga@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Jasper at cjasper@bloomberg.net.