Passenger numbers on the rise at Ryanair in September

Passenger numbers at Ryanair grew by 5 per cent in September, according to new figures released on Thursday.

The airline said traffic rose by 400,000 to 8.5 million during the month. This compares to 8.1 million passengers for the same month a year earlier.

Load factor - a measure of how many seats are filled on each flight - rose 5 per cent from 85 per cent to 90 per cent on an annual basis.

Rolling annual traffic rose to 83.8million customers, up 4 per cent.