LONDON, Jan 7 — British no-frills airline Easyjet on Tuesday revealed that passenger numbers climbed by 3.5 per cent in December to reach 4.5 million.

Easyjet added in a trading update that it carried 61.3 million passengers during 2013, which was 3.6 per cent higher than 59.2 million in 2012.

The airline, which is based in Luton north of London, added that the passenger load factor—the proportion of seats filled—was flat at 87.9 per cent in December, but rose to 89.3 per cent over the year.

Last week, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair said it had carried 5.0 million passengers in December compared with 4.8 million a year earlier, a rise of 4.0 per cent. Total passenger numbers rose 2.0 percent to 81.4 million people in 2013 compared with the previous year. — AFP