Ryanair regains lead as largest low-fares’ carrier

RYANAIR yesterday regained its place as European’s largest low-fares’ carrier after rival Easyjet posted monthly traffic figures showing it carried almost 350,000 less people than the Irish airline.

Easyjet said that it had carried 1,668,394 passengers in December, a 16% rise on the previous year, but below the 2.006 million flown by Ryanair in the same month.

Easyjet had overtaken Ryanair last year as the largest low-fares carrier by passengers when it acquired Go. But it has seen its lead drop as the Irish carrier expanded aggressively through the launch of 50 new routes in 2003 and acquisition of Buzz.