easyJet annual passenger numbers soar to over 60m

• Number of passengers flying easyJet annually has doubled since November 2005
• Amsterdam, Malaga and Barcelona most popular destinations for travellers

easyJet, the UK's largest airline, has announced today that it has reached the milestone of more than 60m passengers who have travelled with the airline in the past 12 months to 31 May 2013.

When easyJet was founded in November 1995 the airline first took to the skies with just two aircraft flying between two domestic UK destinations. Eighteen years on, the airline now operates 212 aircraft flying to 137 airports in 33 countries spanning Europe and North Africa.

Carolyn McCall, easyJet's CEO said:

"We are proud to be celebrating this landmark achievement of flying over 60m passengers across our network for the first time in one year. "It's testament to the hard work and dedication of everybody at easyJet.

"Our success lies in the fact that we provide low fares and friendly service on modern, punctual aircraft across a network that offers a choice of over 600 routes."

More than one hundred of easyJet's 800 Luton based staff gathered outside the airline's Hangar 89 head office at London Luton Airport to mark the 60 million milestone and celebrate the airline's continued success and popularity.

The growth and success of the airline has been exponential reaching 10 million passengers carried for the first time in one year in July 2001- just six years after easyJet's inaugural flight. easyJet has since continued to report an increase in passenger numbers year on year reaching 20 million for the first time in August 2003 rising to 30 million by November 2005 and then doubling again to its May 2013 level of over 60 million, for the first time.

Of the 60,048,534 passengers who've booked with easyJet in the last year, many Brits are using the airline's easy and affordable services when flying to European holiday and leisure destinations. Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva and Malaga are firm favourites with just under seven million passengers flying in and out of these destinations alone. Spain remains popular for Brits with over 8.5 million seats available on easyJet flights.

Over 10 million of the airline's total passengers this year have flown easyJet on business - proving that the strength of its network which sees it flying on more of Europe's top 100 routes than any other carrier has enabled easyJet to attract more customers who are flying on business. easyJet's industry leading on time performance and products like flexiFare, allocated seating and easyJetPlus card have also been designed with easyJet's business customers in mind to offer maximum flexibility and choice.