Ryanair October traffic up 4%

Ryanair today said it carried 7.27 million passengers in October compared with 7.02 million for the same month last year, a rise of 4%.

Load factor for the month, or passengers flown as a percentage of seats available, was 84%, down 1% on October 2010.

Total passenger numbers for the year to end October were 77.1 million, the airline said.

“We are pleased to report a 4% growth in traffic in October, bringing our summer schedule to a close," said spokeman Stephen McNamara.

"As previously advised Ryanair’s winter traffic will decline each month from November onwards as we ground up to 80 aircraft for this winter period.”