Ryanair announces record passenger numbers

Ryanair has announced record passenger numbers for the month of January.

New figures released by the budget airline show it carried 1.25 million people last month, a major increase over the 808,000 carried in January 2002.

Yesterday, Ryanair also announced record traffic and revenues for the third quarter of last year.

Passenger numbers increased to 3.9 million in the three months to December 31.

The airline recently announced plans to expand its European business after buying the Dutch budget carrier Buzz from KLM.

It has also agreed to purchase 100 new Boeing 737-800 jets in the coming years on top of the 150 ordered already last year.