Ryanair records 11% growth despite French air traffic strikes

Ryanair: 11% growth. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

Budget airline Ryanair shrugged off chronic disruption triggered by striking French air traffic controllers (ATCs) to record 11 per cent growth in passengers last month.

A total of 10.6 million customers flew with the airline in June, up from 9.5 million in the same month last year. Load factors – how full the planes are – also rose 1 per cent year-on-year to 94 per cent.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, said: “These record monthly numbers and load factors were delivered, at lower fares, despite the repeated disruptions caused by unacceptable French ATC strikes.

“We are again calling on the European Commission to urgently take action to reduce the impact of these ATC strikes on Europe’s citizens and the single market.”

Ryanair has slashed fares by an average 7 per cent this year amid industry overcapacity and fears of weaker demand after terrorist attacks in Europe and the Middle East.