Ryanair passengers swelled to 13m last month despite staff strikes
Ryanair carried 13.1m passengers in September, an 11 per cent increase on the same time last year.
Laudamotion, the airline founded by Formula One giant Niki Lauda that Ryanair acquired a 75 per cent stake in, carried 0.5m passengers last month, with a load factor – a measure of how full aircraft is – of 93 per cent.
Yesterday Ryanair issued a profit warning in which it downgraded its forecast from €1.25bn to €1.35bn to €1.1bn and €1.2bn.
It blamed the profit warning on a series of strikes over the summer by pilots and cabin crew who have staged walkouts in protest over pay and working conditions and which had begun to affect consumer confidence.
Read more: Ryanair shares fall as airline slashes profit guidance
Ryanair also blamed a "lower fare, higher oil environment".
Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: "Regrettably, over 400 flights were cancelled in September because of two days of unnecessary pilot and cabin crew strikes in five countries, and repeated ATC staff shortages in the UK, Germany and France.
"During the entire month of September, while we cancelled just over 400 flights, we completed over 68,000 scheduled flights with more than 80 per cent of these flights arriving on time, as Ryanair continues to deliver the lowest fares, with the best punctuality of any major EU airline.”
Ryanair has survived a turbulent summer, in which it faced a shareholder revolt by investors irked over its record on labour relations.
Nearly 30 per cent of shareholders voted to oust its chairman, David Bonderman, arguing that his lengthy tenure on the board had made it impossible for him to provide independent advice to chief executive Michael O'Leary.
Read more: Ryanair survives shareholder backlash