(ShareCast News) - Easyjet shares were up 4.62% after the company said second half sales would spur a gain in full year earnings.The budget airline delivered mixed results in its third quarter update, reporting revenues down while passenger numbers were up.Total revenue was down 1% to £1.228m, compared with £1.24m for the same quarter in 2014.Passenger numbers were up by 6.2% to 19.1m year on year, and the airline increased its load factor by 1.3 percentage points to 91.7%.The company said a difficult operational environment due to French strike action and the impact of the fire at Rome's Fiumicino airport driving a 2.8% cost per seat (excluding fuel) in constant currency terms.Easyjet said this revenue per seat figure, down 5.4% on a reported basis to £59.08 was better than guidance issued in May.The airline warned exchange rate movements were likely to impact results by £35m compared to the six months to 30 September 2014 and are likely to have around a £15 million adverse impact compared to the 12 months to 30 September 2014.Easyjet has booked 77% of seats for the second half of the year, and expected full year profit for the year to be between £620-66m, above last year's £581m.RBC Capital held an 'underperform' rating on the stock, and lowered its target price from 1575p to 1666p.Analysts said while third quarter weakness wasn't as bad as expected, but said its rating was based on a lack of profit momentum.RBC said longer-term other low cost airlines were still in aggressive expansion mode which could create new tension should easyJet need to add services or bases.Shares in the airline were one of the biggest fallers on Tuesday ahead of the result, closing at 1666p.