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* Q3 revenue up 10.5 pct to 1.14 billion pounds
* Sees FY pretax at 450 mln stg-480 mln vs f'cast 433 mln
* Shares up 6.4 pct after earlier hitting all-time high (Recasts, adds analyst comment, details, shares)
By Rhys Jones
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - EasyJet's Plc's strategyof adding flights on routes where rivals have cut back paid offon Wednesday, as its forecast of earnings ahead of analystexpectations helped propel its shares to a record high.
Rival airlines have been struggling with high fuel costs andweak consumer confidence, sending some smaller carriers out ofbusiness while the likes of British Airways owner IAG and Air France-KLM have cut routes, leaving gaps thatlow-cost airlines have been quick to exploit.
Luton, southern England-based easyJet said it expects pretaxprofit of between 450 million pounds ($691.5 million) and 480million in the year to Sept. 30, up from 317 million last yearand topping an average estimate of 433 million.
EasyJet, whose planes decorated with the company'sdistinctive orange logo are a common sight at Luton and otherBritish airports, said its upbeat forecast assumed a 6 percentrise in revenue per seat in the second half of the year.
Europe's second-largest low-cost carrier after RyanairHoldings Plc also said revenue rose 10.5 percent to 1.14billion pounds in the three months through June.
EasyJet, which increased capacity by 3.6 percent in thequarter, said it had particularly benefited from adding flightson routes to Italy and Switzerland. Earlier this month it wonshareholder approval to buy 135 new Airbus planesdespite opposition from its estranged founder SteliosHaji-Ioannou.
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"This stronger than expected performance was driven byallocating capacity to higher-returning routes, competitorretrenchment and allocated seating," said analyst MarkIrvine-Fortescue at brokerage Jefferies.
Since Carolyn McCall took over as CEO in 2010, the airlinehas introduced more flights between top business destinations,as well as flexible tickets allowing passengers to change theirflight up to two hours before scheduled departure time, andallocated seating in an attempt to steal corporate customers.
The airline's annual dividend and profits have doubled sinceMcCall took the helm.
"EasyJet is performing strongly, driven by a combination ofmanagement initiatives and a benign capacity environment," saidMcCall, adding 73 percent of seats had already been booked forthe six months to October.
EasyJet, which makes its profit in a second half thatincludes the busy summer holidays, said revenue per seat rose6.1 percent at constant currency rates in the quarter.
It also expects its fuel bill for the second half to bearound 9 million pounds less than the same period a year ago dueto hedging initiatives.
Shares in easyJet, which have risen more than 75 percentthis year, hit an all-time high of 1,449 pence in early tradeand were 6.4 percent up at 1,422 pence by 0750 GMT, valuing thecompany at around 5.6 billion pounds.
EasyJet's founder, usually known as Stelios, set up theairline in 1995 but quit the board in 2010 after a row overstrategy and remains at odds with its management. He had arguedthat the money it plans to spend on new planes would have beenbetter lavishing on improved dividends or share buybacks.
($1 = 0.6508 British pounds) (Editing by Neil Maidment and David Holmes)
