EasyJet has replaced its booking fee with a 9 pounds administration charge from Thursday.

The budget airline has also phased out the use of Visa Electron as a free payment method.

Bookings made by credit and charge cards will incur an additional fee of 2.5% of the transaction value.

The changes follow criticism from the Office of Fair Trading and European regulators over transparent pricing by airlines.

The carrier said the 9 pounds fee would contribute to its administration costs.

A spokesman confirmed: "From January 12, 2012, EasyJet is replacing its booking fee with an admin fee of 9 pounds which will be included in all advertising, displayed as part of a full and final flight price at the first stage of the booking process and will be applied to all bookings regardless of payment method and how many flights are made.

"While passengers using a credit card will pay an additional fee to cover handling costs, EasyJet will not charge passengers for handling debit card payments. The admin fee is charged on all bookings and contributes to the airline's administrative costs."

He added: "EasyJet charges per booking rather than per person because the overwhelming majority of its customers book multiple flights or flights with multiple passengers.

"Other airlines charge per person per flight which means that a family of four would be charged 48 pounds rather than the 9 pounds they would pay on EasyJet.

"These changes have been made in order to address the concerns raised by consumer bodies and regulators across the EU while retaining a simple, transparent and consistent booking process for all passengers regardless of nationality. "

The airline claimed that the majority of its passengers would be unaffected by the phasing out of payment by Visa Electron as fewer banks are issuing the card across Europe.