Record 14.5 million passengers took off with Ryanair last year

FREE flights and cheap seats all helped Ryanair fly a record 14.5 million people around Europe in 2002.

The figure represents a 54% increase on the 9.4m passengers carried by the no-frills airline in 2001.

Last year's total was boosted by a large growth in passenger numbers during December when more than 1.3m people flew with the airline -a 64% increase on December 2001 when just under 800,000 people travelled with Ryanair.

Ryanair are confident similar numbers of people will fly this year and reiterated their low-fares pledge to consumers.

Trading figures released yesterday show the overwhelming majority of the airline's tickets are bought via Ryanair's own website on the internet.

Nine out of every 10 seats are now sold by the company on-line.

The load factor, which measures the percentage of seats filled on all flights, also rose from 77% to 85% over the past 12 months.

Commenting on the figures, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said strong growth in passenger figures in the second half of 2002 was a direct consequence of "significantly lower" air fares and yields which included an 870,000 free seat giveaway in the autumn.

The airline also launched four new routes out of its main German base at Hahn last month which helped boost passenger numbers.

"Our business continues to grow as forecast, therefore this traffic growth in December does not give rise to any change - positive or negative - to our previous guidance," Mr O'Leary said.

In November, he warned that there would be no repeat of the 71% rise in its half-year profits to 150m. He also predicted that average fare yields would fall by 5-7%.

Growth in passenger figures were reflected in a strong surge in the company's share price on international stock markets. Ryanair's shares on the Dublin stock exchange rose by 40 cent or 5.7% to €7.30 in its biggest single gain in recent months.

Europe's second largest budget airline has predicted that passenger traffic will continue to grow by 30-35% over the next two years.

The company added more than 20 routes to its expanding network last year, with thousands of seats sold as part of one-way promotional fare offers.

The airline has also said it will convert more options for Boeing 737-800 planes to meet projected passenger growth. Ryanair placed a firm order for 100 aircraft last year with a further option on 50 additional Boeing planes.

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus has predicted that the national airline's performance last year will deliver a profit of €45m in a sharp reverse of losses of €27m recorded in 2001.

Aer Lingus chief executive Willie Walsh said the company, which cut around 2,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring programme since September 11, was on target to increase profits to €70m this year.