Windfall for Sir Stelios as easyJet profits soar The airline, the biggest in the UK, has proposed an £85m, or 21½p a share, payout to shareholders on March 22, up from 10½p last year, after full-year profits jumped by almost a third to £317m pre-tax on revenues 11.6pc higher at £3.9bn. easyJet, which is 37.5pc owned by Sir Stelios and his siblings, has been attracting more business passengers as companies shrink travel budgets, while cost-conscious families are still prepared to "protect" their holidays abroad, Carolyn McCall, chief executive, said. The airline said conditions in Europe will offer further opportunities to attract passengers away from the legacy airlines, such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Iberia. Ms McCall expects to increase passenger numbers by between 3pc and 5pc a year. Ms McCall said trials of allocated seating had proved popular not only with business travellers but also with families and elderly passengers, who "really didn't enjoy the way we boarded our planes." The aviation boss said the group's focus is to grow organically, although she didn't rule out mergers and acquisitions. "M&A is not our priority," the former media executive turned airline chief said. I do think there is enough profitable growth for easyJet to do that organically. easyJet shares jumped after the carrier unveiled a new dividend policy, promising to pay out a third of its profit after tax each year, up from a fifth. Sir Stelios, who in the summer tried to oust easyJet's chairman, Sir Michael Rake, has long campaigned for a more generous dividend policy. The results are in stark contrast to the owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group, which said earlier this month that it is heading towards a €120m (£96.6m) operating loss this year amid major problems at its Spanish airline, Iberia.