Ryanair flies just 40,000 people in April as demand evaporates
Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair revealed that passenger numbers fell 99.6 per cent in April as the coronavirus crisis continued to cripple global aviation.
Last month the airline operated 600 flights, a tiny fraction of the 75,500 it had budgeted, and flew just 40,000 people.
By contrast, in April last year the airline flew 13.5m passengers out of an annual total of 144.3m.
This year, Ryanair is forecasting that the number of passengers that it will carry will total 135m, around four per cent down on 2019.
According to Eurocontrol’s latest available figures, the airline operated just 54 flights on Sunday. By contrast, on the same day last year it ran 2,600 flights.
Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air, which on Friday announced it would start flying seven more services, also reported a 97.6 per cent fall in passenger numbers for April.
The airline flew 78,000 passengers over the month, instead of the 3.3m it had carried in the same period last year.
As one of the first commercial airlines to restart passenger flights, Wizz will be hoping that these figures improve quicker than other airlines.
On 1 May the carrier recommenced operations from both London Luton and Vienna airports, whilst also announcing a new programme of Middle Eastern routes for next year.
According to chief executive József Váradi, the airline will look to ramp up to 70 per cent of its normal flying capacity in July and August.
Váradi’s comments echo those of Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, who said his airline would be seeking to increase its services to 80 per cent of pre-coronavirus levels by September, depending on international travel restrictions.
By contrast, embattled Norwegian Air last week revealed that it did not expected to begin increasing its number of services until April 2021.
Yesterday the Scandinavian flier got the backing of its shareholders to go ahead with a refinancing plan which would give it access to government funding.
Last week Ryanair warned that state aid packages which are not industry-wide risked “significantly distorting” the market when demand returns.
The carrier pledged to challenge such financial packages at the European Commission, which itself yesterday approved a €7bn loan for Air France.