EasyJet gave an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year as it revealed this morning that passenger numbers rose 14 per cent year-on-year last month.

The no-frills airline said that it expected full-year profit growth to be at the "top end" of its earlier estimate of between 40 per cent and 50 per cent, which would equate to a full-year pre-tax profit of up to £190 million.

Total pre-tax profit for the year will be even greater, because of an £11 million one-off benefit from an investment in The Airline Group.

Rolling passenger numbers for the year to September rose to more than 37 million, up 13 per cent, and the airline flew 3.4 million during the month, up from 3 million last year.

But load capacity — the measure of how full the aircraft are — fell one percentage point to 83.7 per cent during the year, and revenue per seat was 6.8 per cent down on last year, which the airline said reflected lower ticket prices.

Andy Harrison, the chief executive of easyJet, said: "We are pleased with our performance over the last financial year, having achieved significant improvement in margins despite the doubling of APD [air passenger duty] in the UK and record fuel prices."

EasyJet intends to add 15 per cent to its capacity in the next financial year.

The airline said in a statement: "Growth continues to focus on Southern Europe, in particular Milan and Madrid, where we have now based a total of 12 aircraft.

"Our network development continues apace and yesterday we announced plans to significantly increase our presence in France."

Shares in easyJet, which have fallen by more than 10 per cent over the year, rose 21.5p to 569p this morning.

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