Ryanair traffic increased by 29 per cent in February

Ryanair has acquired three additional Boeing 737-800 aircraft valued at $280 million at current list prices.

The company said its total order for 737 aircrafts now stands at 183. It also has 200 Boeing Max 200 aircraft on order, which it said would allow it to grow its traffic to 160 million customers by 2024.

The airline also said passenger traffic rose by 29 per cent from February 2014 to the same month this year.

Ryanair said it carried 5.8 million passengers last month compared to 5.9 million in January and 4.5 million for February 2014.

Ryanair said rolling annual traffic to February 2015 grew 9 per cent to 89.1 million.

Load factor - a measure of how many seats are filled on each flight - rose 11 per cent to 89 per cent, as against 78 per cent for the same month last year.

The airline said the success of its ‘Always Getting Better’ customer programme had delivered better-than-expected load factors on its winter schedule.

The airline unveiled the second phase of its customer programme in London on Tuesday with details of new features, aircraft interiors and a new look for cabin crew.