Ryanair passenger numbers up 8% in August

Ryanair boosted its passenger numbers by 1.1 million in August despite the threat of strikes in key markets including Ireland and the carrying out of strikes elsewhere.

The budget airline said passenger numbers across the group rose 8 per cent in the month, a similar growth level seen in the earlier summer months.

Ryanair’s load factor – a measure of how full its flights are – stood at 97 per cent at the end of the month in which it carried 14.9 million travellers. Its namesake airline accounted for the majority of that while Lauda carried 600,000 passengers.

In the 12 months to August, Ryanair managed to grow its passenger numbers by 10 per cent and it carried 149.2 million people in the period.