Ryanair flies 14.2m passengers last month as Brits flock back on holiday

Ryanair announced it has flown 14.2 million passengers in April, 91 per cent up on 2021 figures.

According to data from international traffic management organisation EUROCONTROL, Ryanair was the largest operator in Europe, as it reported an average of 2,815 flights per day.

Wizz Air, which was ranked seventh, announced yesterday its passenger numbers had gone up 542 per cent on April 2021.

Ryanair’s passenger load factor, which measures how well an airline fills its seats, has also progressively grown, going up from 79 per cent in January to 91 in April.

Ryanair’s increase in passenger demand has continued to increase even though chief executive Michael O’Leary said last month that summer fares would go up between five and ten per cent of 2019 levels.

According to O’Leary, lower capacity and very strong forward bookings already started driving demand up from June onwards.

“What we’re seeing at the moment is prices are slightly lower than they were in 2019, pre-Covid, through March, April and May,” he told the Irish Independent. “They’re somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent higher at the moment through June, July, August and September.

“I think fares will be up this year in the peak summer months by between 5 and 10 per cent.”