Ryanair traffic rises 4% in July despite flight disruptions

Traffic at Ryanair rose 4 per cent in July, with the airline carrying 13 million passengers during the month.

The company said load factor remained at 97 per cent for July, with Ryanair attributing it to lower fares. Rolling annual traffic to July grew 7 per cent to 133.5 million.

The company has been hit by flight cancellations in recent weeks through a combination of air traffic control staff shortages, bad weather and strikes by pilots and cabin crew. Ryanair said more than 1,000 flights were cancelled last month. The airline is facing further industrial action across Europe, with notice of strikes on August 10th by pilot unions in Belgium and Sweden. Ryanair said it had also been warned of possible strike action by pilot unions in Germany and the Netherlands.

Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs said almost 200,000 customers had their flights cancelled in July. "Ryanair, together with other European airlines, calls for urgent action by the EU Commission and European governments to address the effect of these ATC staff shortages which are disrupting the travel plans of millions of Europe's consumers this summer."