Europe's biggest budget airline Easyjet has unveiled a further sharp jump in passenger bookings, but a rise in the number of empty seats on its flights has disappointed investors.

The firm said it carried nearly 1.5 million passengers last month, an increase of 114.5% on the same period last year.

But Easyjet's load factor - the number of passengers as a proportion of available seats - fell to 80.5% from 85.2% one year earlier.

The weaker load factor dismayed the City, where Easyjet's shares were down by over 8% at 303p in late afternoon trade.

Passenger growth

The strong growth in bookings partly reflects Easyjet's takeover earlier this year of rival no-frills carrier and former BA subsidiary Go.

The figure was 38% higher than the combined total racked up by Easyjet and Go in November last year - a sign that the no-frills air travel market is still growing strongly.

Earlier this week, Easyjet reported a 78% jump in full year profits, underlining the resilience of the no-frills sector at a time when full service carriers are still struggling with the fallout of the 11 September attacks.

Budget airlines such as Easyjet and arch-rival Ryanair, which fly only to destinations within Europe, have seized a high proportion of the short-haul flight from the full-service airlines by competing aggressively on price.

Low costs, cheap fares

The budget flyers keep costs low by cutting out in-flight meals and encouraging passengers to book online, enabling them to offer rock-bottom fares.

Easyjet's November passenger figures compared with Ryanair's total of 1.25 million, confirming Easyjet's position as Europe's number one no-frills carrier.

Easyjet, which flies distinctive orange-liveried aircraft, stole the top spot away from Ryanair by merging with third-ranked Go.