Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair reports that June 2022 was its busiest month on record, showing a strong recovery from Covid. The airline flew 15.9 million passengers over the period, close to three times the amount of passengers it was flying this time last year.
Load Factor of 95%
Ryanair released its June figures in a press release yesterday, which boast a 95% load factor over the past month. The load factor measures the percentage of sold seats on an airline’s routes. Every airline looks to maximise this figure, and thus reap more profits.
Earlier this year, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said the airline is profitable once it exceeds 80% occupancy, so 95% is a very healthy figure. Pre-pandemic, the airline was regularly hitting a load factor in excess of 96% each month, and was at 97% in June 2019.
This year, the company has faced challenges with the outbreak of the Omicron variant disrupting travel plans over winter and the invasion of Ukraine affecting European aviation. Despite these hurdles, the company has seen its customer base steadily increasing once more.
A full Schedule for Ryanair
Ryanair expects to fly 15% more passengers this summer than during the same season in 2019. Furthermore, the airline expects to carry a record 165 million passengers in the year to March 2023, up from 100 million in the year to March 2022. The pre-covid record was 149 million passengers.
Whilst other airlines such as easyJet and British Airways have been facing devastating staff shortages forcing them to cancel flights, Ryanair seems to have done a relatively good job of maintaining its schedule. Even the recent strike action has failed to have a significant impact on the Irish carrier’s performance. Last week, the airline said that cabin crew strikes in Belgium, Spain, France and Italy affected less than 2% of its flights. It added that it expected minimal delay from the further 12 strike days planned for later this month.
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