EasyJet has said the Paris terror attacks will have a minimal impact on the budget airline as "resilient" passengers will still want to travel.

Shares in easyJet, which focuses mainly on the western and northern European markets, dipped almost 4% on Monday morning as investors expressed concerns over the impact of the terror attacks on both the travel and leisure sectors.

However, easyJet communications director Paul Moore said any disruption would be brief, adding that the airline had not changed its growth forecasts for 2016.

"Obviously our thoughts are with those affected," he said. "But we have dealt with such events before and it is typically a short-term impact.

"At the weekend we saw some passengers not wanting to fly, which is perfectly understandable, but longer term we do not see any material effect. People are resilient.

"Both in and out of Paris, people will continue to want to fly."

The budget airline has just revealed bumper pre-tax profits of £681 million for the 12 months to the end of September, in line with its upgraded guidance. This is up £105 million on last year and represents the fifth straight year of record profits.

The firm also carried an additional four million passengers during the 12-month period to reach a total of 68.6 million.

EasyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall said the airline's outlook for the longer term remained positive and she expects demand in its markets to be sustained.

"We will see passenger growth of 7% a year, sustaining margins through rigorous cost control and the benefit of fleet up-gauging, resulting in positive profit momentum," she said.

"We remain totally focused on our network advantage, digital leadership and offering our customers great low fares and service.

"We continue to invest in profitable growth, ensuring our digital advantage and giving our customers good-value fares."

Commenting on the performance, Hargreaves Lansdown equities head Richard Hunter, said: "EasyJet continues to cruise, with a set of results which show improvement in its numbers almost without exception.

"A tight control on costs and a 4% increase in revenues have helped to propel an 18% rise in profits, whilst both earnings per share and the dividend have been bolstered by 22%. Passenger numbers are also increasing, and the load factor remains in excess of 91% as testament to the efficiency of the easyJet business model.

"A strong summer helped to mitigate some of the company's challenges, whilst its new presence in the likes of Germany, Holland and Portugal add to a strong European portfolio and equally explain easyJet's upbeat outlook on prospects.

"The impressive performance has been achieved despite currency headwinds, the earlier French air traffic control strike and the fire in Rome during the year. From a broader perspective, airport taxes and higher costs remain a threat, whilst the shocking events of the weekend are a stark reminder of the exogenous factors with which the airline industry has to deal."