Ryanair carried over one million passengers in a record-breaking March.
It is the first time passenger traffic at the budget airline exceeded the million mark in a single month, according to the latest industry data.
Ryanair carried 1,016,333 passengers in March, a rise of 48 per cent on last year. The load factor that measures the level of seat occupancy increased by 7 percentage points to 79 per cent.
Internet bookings accounted for 91 per cent of all bookings, the company said.
In the 12 months to March 31st, Ryanair sold 11,091,229 tickets - including no-shows. Analysts estimate the no-show rate is typically between 8 per cent and 10 per cent, implying actually passenger traffic of about 10.2 million.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said today passenger traffic among its member airlines continued to fall but the trend is showing signs of improvement since last October.
For the industry, the IATA said passenger traffic was 5.6 per cent lower than in February 2001 but this compared to a 10 per cent year-on-year drop in January.
But the group said February's figures confirmed a recovery in passenger traffic since October, the first full month following the attacks in the United States.