BUDGET airline Ryanair yesterday said passenger numbers had grown by nearly a fifth despite the economic slowdown.
The group carried almost 5.8 million passengers in August – an increase of 19 per cent on a year earlier – while it filled 90 per cent of available seats.
Ryanair said it had increased passenger numbers every month this year, taking the total for
the 12 months to August to 55 million.
The airline has refused to introduce a fuel surcharge, despite warning in July that it could make a full-year loss because of high oil prices. It also said it anticipated a 5 per cent fall in average fares this winter.
Head of communications Stephen McNamara said: "Our rapidly growing passenger numbers come at a time when many airlines, which are facing huge losses, are raising fares and fuel surcharges in an attempt to turn these losses around."
The load factor of 90 per cent was lower than the 91 per cent recorded a year earlier, but Ryanair claimed this was a result of an increase in capacity over the past 12 months.
Ryanair recently agreed contracts for 90 per cent of its fuel requirement at $129 a barrel for September and 80 per cent of the October to December period at $124.
Oil prices have since fallen to below $110 a barrel, while Ryanair said in July it was unhedged for the fourth quarter to the end of March.
August traffic figures released by British Airways on Tuesday showed a 2.7 percentage-point fall in its load factor from a year earlier.
Low-fares airline EasyJet is due to publish traffic figures today.
The full article contains 278 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
