Ryanair passenger numbers rise

Ryanair's traffic grew by 10 per cent last month, according to figures released today.

The no-frills airline said it carried 6.8 million passengers during April, compared to 6.2 million for the same month a year earlier.

The company said that in the year to April 2011 it carried a total of 74.2 million.

The load factor - which represents the number of passengers as a percentage of total seats available - rose by 2 per cent to 85 per cent last month. This compares to an 83 per cent load factor in April 2010.

Load factor for the year to the end of April 2011 was 83 per cent, the airline said.