Ryanair has its busiest year ever

RYANAIR carried more than two million passengers between Dublin and London this year.

The airline claimed it accounted for almost 50% of traffic between the cities. Dublin-London is the busiest airline route in Europe and is also served by Aer Lingus, Cityjet and BMI, the former British Midland.

This is the first time Ryanair has broken the two million passenger barrier on its operations between Dublin and Stansted. Aer Lingus, which flies to Heathrow and Gatwick, carried 1.4 million passengers between Dublin and London to the end of November.

Ryanair head of communications Paul Fitzsimmons said 2003 was the busiest year-ever for the airline and that it would carry over 24 million passengers between January and December.

“A few months ago, Ryanair became the first low-fares airline in Europe to carry over two million passengers in a month, and we’ve repeated that performance every month since,” said Mr Fitzsimmons. The airline launched more than 60 new services during 2003 and operates 146 routes spanning 16 countries.

Ryanair recently cut capacity on its service between Shannon and Stansted, blaming increased airport charges for its decision. The airline also suspended its operations between Stansted and Strasbourg

earlier this year in response to a court challenge to the legality of payments received from Strasbourg chamber of commerce to promote tourism in the region.

The French Court of Appeal last week upheld an earlier decision that went against Ryanair, but chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline would go to the European Court in Luxembourg to overturn the decision if necessary.

Stansted is London’s third-largest airport but received news last week that the British Government would support an expansion plan that provides for a second runway at the airport by 2011.

The expansion will make room for an extra 46m passengers each year at the airport, which currently handles approximately 12 million passengers a year.