Ryanair reports strong January with continued growth in passengers

The airline's 11.8 million passengers were flown across 68,200 flights last month

Throughout 2022, the budget airline carried 165.3 million passengers, an increase of 111% year-on-year.

Ryanair flew just under 12 million passengers on its flights over the month of January, with the budget airline saying its passenger traffic continued to grow at the start of 2023.

With just 7 million passengers flying with Ryanair in January 2022, the increase represents a 69% rise in passengers year-on-year, with soaring demand arising from the end of strict travel restrictions at the beginning of last year.

Ryanair's 11.8 million passengers were flown across 68,200 flights last month.

The airline's load factor, a measure of how full flights are, also signalled improvements, increasing by 12% from January 2022 to January 2023.

Throughout 2022, the budget airline carried 165.3 million passengers, an increase of 111% year-on-year. The subsequent load factor for the year stood at 93%.

Passenger numbers for Ryanair's last quarter climbed to a record 38.4 million, which is around 7% higher than the same quarter in 2019 before the pandemic hit.

Overall, Ryanair expects to carry 168 million passengers in the 12 months through to March 2023, when its financial year ends, beating it's pre-pandemic record by over 13%. 

Furthermore, it expects that number to grow further to 185 million passengers over the 12 months to March 2024.