Low-cost airline easyJet today said passenger numbers broke through the three million barrier during March.

The figure of 3.09 million represented an increase of 12.3% on a year earlier, although the company said the proportion of seats occupied on its flights dipped by almost two percentage points to 84.4%.

For the year to the end of March, easyJet carried 34.5 million passengers - an increase of 11.7% after it introduced more new routes, including a three-times daily service between Glasgow and Gatwick.

Total revenues for the year were up more than 20% to 1.71 billion, while the load factor was up marginally at 84.3%.

The airline currently operates 124 aircraft on 289 routes between 74 airports in 20 countries.