Ryanair sees 9% passenger growth in June despite disruption

Between all its airlines, Ryanair Holdings flew 17.4 million passengers in June, up 9% compared to last year. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov

Ryanair Holdings passenger numbers grew by 9% in June compared to the same period last year despite being forced to cancel over 900 flights mainly due to air-traffic controller (ATC) strikes in France, the company has said.

Ryanair Holdings is the parent company of the Ryanair airline, Buzz airlines, Lauda airlines, and Malta Air.

According to its figures, it flew 17.4 million passengers during the month of June up from 15.9 million in June 2022. In the year to June, it has flown 173.4 million passengers, an increase of 29% compared to the previous year.

The company operated 96,250 flights during the month but had to cancel 900 - impacting approximately 160,000 passengers - due in large part to ATC strikes in France.

The strikes are as a result of the ongoing unrest over the increases to the pension age in the country.

Ryanair has repeatedly called on the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to intervene and prevent further flight disruption across Europe as a result of these strikes.

At the end of May, it handed over a petition signed by more than a million people to the Commission demanding action on the issue.

All this comes as Eurocontrol, the organisation that oversees European airspace, warned passengers of the risk of another summer of travel chaos as destinations including Budapest, Marseille and Athens face an overload of air traffic during the peak travel season.

According to the European Network Operations Plan, air traffic reached pre-pandemic levels last week, putting additional strain on the system as airlines and ground services still grapple with staffing shortages and strikes flaring up across the region.

There were more than 34,000 flights last week on Friday, and about 33,000 flights are scheduled per day between July and August, Eurocontrol said.

Although airports are predicting smoother operations, staffing issues could put pressure on hubs, especially if there are network disruptions, it added.

- Additional reporting by Bloomberg