Ryanair carries 50% more passengers in October
According to figures released by the airline yesterday it carried 2.06 million people in October, up from 1.37 million passengers last year.
In the past 12 months the low fares airline carried nearly 20 million people, and it remains on course to fly more than 24 million people in the current year. However, the airline said that its load factor, or the amount of seats per flight its fills, fell by 5% year-on-year to 82%. This was the result of an aggressive expansion plan, which has seen it open 50 new routes.
Ryanair has threatened to pull out of several of these new routes if the passenger figures do not pick up over the next few months.
The Irish airline’s figures compare well to its rivals. British Airways said yesterday that its passenger numbers had fallen again.
BA flew just over 3 million passengers last month, 0.3% below the number seen in October. However, the airline generated 3.9% more revenue from these customers.
BA said that premium rate traffic remained under pressure but added that there had been some improvement in long-haul business.
Meanwhile, Ryanair is also to face new lows fares competition in Germany, where the airline has seen rapid growth, with rival EasyJet announcing that it is establishing a base near Berlin.
EasyJet is to launch 11 routes from a new base at Berlin's Schonefeld Airport. It will create 300 to 400 jobs in Berlin, will fly from Germany to Luton three times a day and daily to Newcastle, Bristol and Liverpool. The airport, which is 28 minutes from the city centre by train, is set to become a major travel hub following the proposed closure of the Tempelhof airport in October 2004. Ryanair has a major base near Frankfurt and is considering setting up another hub somewhere in Germany by the end of the year.
