Ryanair December traffic up 3% on pre-pandemic levels

CEO Michael O'Leary had flagged at the start of December that Christmas bookings were running ahead of 2019 levels.

Ryanair flew 11.5m passengers in December, up 3% on its previous pre-COVID high for the Christmas travel period, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers said on Wednesday.

Ryanair expects to fly 166.5m passengers in the year to the end of March, far ahead of its previous record of 149m.