Ryanair passenger figures up 13%

Saturday, July 04, 2009

IRISH budget airline Ryanair carried 5.84 million passengers last month — 13% more than a year earlier.

Load factor — a measure of how well it fills planes — climbed to 85% from 84% in the same month of 2008, Europe’s biggest carrier by passenger numbers said.

Ryanair Holdings is now interested in offering domestic flights in Portugal between the cities of Lisbon, Oporto and Faro, Portuguese newspaper Diario Economico reported, citing deputy chief executive Michael Cawley.

The low-cost airline is in talks to open a base in Faro in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, the newspaper added.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, July 04, 2009