The two things you need to know about Ryanair’s latest passenger numbers

Ryanair’s passenger figures for April were worth noting for two reasons. The first was obvious: the Irish giant flew 14.24 million people last month. This was the highest number since August 2019 – the last “normal” year for airlines – when it carried 14.9 million customers.

September 2019 was the last month in which more than 14 million passengers travelled with Ryanair. April 2022's total was comfortably ahead of the 13.5 million that the airline reached in the same month three years ago. (Easter fell fully within April in both years, allowing for a fair comparison.)

Barometer of health

The second is that Ryanair filled 91 per cent of the seats on the 82,600 flights it operated last month. Known in industry jargon as the “load factor”, this is a barometer of airline health.

Generally, carriers need to sell at least 80 per cent their seats to make money. Before Covid-19, Ryanair always broke 90 per cent, often hitting 96 or even 97 per cent.

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However, its load factor remained below 90 per cent over the past 12 months. It varied from 72 per cent in June to 82 per cent in August, then edged up to 87 per cent in November.

Fuel costs

March, the final month of its 2022 financial year, marked its highest load factor, at 87 per cent. Taking into account that this was across 67,800 flights, as Ryanair was operating a winter schedule, the airline shifted up several gears last month, selling more seats to more passengers on more flights.

Nevertheless, its shares were down 3 per cent down at lunchtime on Wednesday. Investors remain nervous of flying in Europe, as the EU is phasing out Russian oil imports, potentially adding to fuel costs.

Some would argue those nerves look overdone in Ryanair’s case. The carrier has hedged 80 per cent of this year’s fuel needs and had €3 billion cash on December 31st. That strong position and a growing fleet will allow it to cash in where high kerosene prices force others to close or cut back.