Passenger numbers continue to climb at budget airlines

Ryanair

Three of the main budget carriers in the North West have all reported improved passenger statistics this week.

Ryanair, which flies more than 60 routes from Manchester Airport and 35 from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, saw September traffic grow by 11% to 13.1m passengers, boosted by 500,000 customers of Lauda, the Austrian airline the carrier acquired in August.

Stripping out the Lauda factor, Ryanair traffic grew 6% to 12.6m customers.

The load factor, or number of available seats sold, was static at 97% for Ryanair, and 93% for Lauda.

Spokesman Kenny Jacobs said: “Regrettably, over 400 flights were cancelled in September because of two days of unnecessary pilot and cabin crew strikes in five countries, and repeated air traffic controller staff shortages in the UK, Germany and France.”

Earlier this week Ryanair cut profit forecasts for the year by 12%, due to higher fuel costs and passenger compensation packages, and pilot strikes, which have affected customer confidence and bookings.

Rival easyJet, which flies 59 routes from Manchester Airport, and 33 from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, achieved a 14.2% increase during the month, to 8.816m passengers, although the load factor fell by 0.8% to 92.8%.

Rolling 12 month figures to September showed a 10.2% increase in customers, at 88.454m for the year so far, with a load factor of 92.9%, which is a 0.3% improvement.

Meanwhile, Hungarian operator Wizz Air, which serves eight destinations from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, enjoyed a 17.5% rise in passenger numbers, to 3.173m, and a 1.2% boost to its load factor, of 94.1%.

The rolling 12 month figures for Wizz Air showed a 21.8% jump in passenger numbers in the year to September, at 32.763m, while the load factor climbed 0.7% to 91.9%.

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