Ryanair sees passenger numbers reach another record high in August

The airline flew 18.9 million passengers during August — an increase of 11% compared to August last year — with 96% of all seats being filled.

Despite an air-traffic control glitch in the UK which forced it to cancel hundreds of flights, budget airline Ryanair still flew another record number of passengers in August. 

In total, the airline flew 18.9 million passengers during August — an increase of 11% compared to August last year — with 96% of all seats being filled. This is the fourth straight month Ryanair has broken its own record for passengers flown in a month.

In the year to the end of August, Ryanair has flown 177.4 million passengers, a 20% increase on the same period last year.

Ryanair recently trimmed its full-year passenger forecast to 183.5 million passengers from 185 million due to the impact of air traffic control strikes in France as well as potential further Boeing delivery delays.

During August, it operated about 103,000 flights but was forced to cancel 350 flights due to the issues in the UK affecting roughly 63,000 people. 

In July, the airline flew 18.7 million passengers, however, during that time it was also forced to cancel 800 flights due to strikes in France as well as ground crew strikes in Italy.

On August 28, a glitch with the UK airspace manager NATS led to almost 800 flights departing UK airports to be cancelled, along with 786 flights arriving into the UK. The issues persisted into the next day but fewer flights were impacted.

Ryanair has said the cause of the issue had not yet been explained.

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the issue, the findings of which are expected to be published later this week.

Last week, Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the glitch could end up costing airlines in the region of £100m.