The soaring oil price will drive "weaker" rivals out of business, easyJet claimed this morning, despite seeing its own losses treble over the last six months.

With oil hitting a new record of $122 a barrel yesterday, and Goldman Sachs forecasting it could hit $200 a barrel this year, easyJet predicted carnage in the airline industry.


"If the oil price stays high we will see a number of weaker airlines disappear over the next 12 to 24 months," chief executive Andrew Harrison predicted.