Easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is in line for a £51m payout after the airline agreed to pay its first-ever dividend.

The carrier, the biggest at Liverpool John Lennon Airport by passenger numbers, reported a 31.5% increase in underlying profits to £248m in the year to September 30.

This was at the upper end of expectations and was partly thanks to a sharp rise in the number of business passengers.

The group announced payments to shareholders of £195m, which is about £5m more than previously expected amid pressure from Sir Stelios, who along with his family is a major shareholder.

Easyjet said it would pay a special dividend of 34.9 pence on top of an ordinary dividend of 10.5 pence

The payout comes after Sir Stelios criticised plans to buy new aircraft.

Sources close to the tycoon said he was still concerned about capital expenditure, which fell 1% to £478m, and may pile more pressure on the airline’s board.

Despite the rise in profits Easyjet said it will become harder to pass higher fuel prices on to passengers.

It said around 45% of winter seats are already booked – about the same level as last year – but warned that weak consumer confidence across Europe will slow the rate at which higher costs can be passed on to passengers.

The group also announced it will trial allocated seating on selected routes in the spring, following a similar move by rival Ryanair.

The record profits for the group came after it offset a £100m increase in its fuel bill by focusing on cost controls and improved customer satisfaction levels.

Its on-time performance improved by 13 percentage points to 79%.

But the group warned the macro-economic environment remains challenging, while it is facing higher costs, including increased taxation and a £220m rise in its fuel costs.

Chief executive Carolyn McCall said: “Against this backdrop Easyjet is taking a cautious approach to capacity deployment ... capacity in the first half of the year is planned to be flat, with growth of around 4% for the full year.”

The group expects first-half passenger revenues to increase by mid-single digits, helped by higher bag charges and other ancillary revenues.

Easyjet  has been expanding its appeal to business customers, which tend to provide higher profits, by flying more to business routes and offering flexible fares.

Passengers travelling on business routes increased by 1m to 9.5m in the year. Total revenues rose 16% to £3.5bn while revenues per seat were up 3.4% to £55.27bn, helped by a rise in ancillary revenues.