Ryanair sees passenger numbers jump

Low-fare airline Ryanair has seen a 34 per cent jump in passenger numbers in June compared with the same month last year.

The airline said this morning it had sold 1,245,416 seats in June compared with 925,966 in the same month of 2001.

Load factor - a measure used by airlines to show how full their planes are - climbed to 88 per cent in June from 82 per cent a year ago.

According to Ryanair 91 per cent of passengers booked their tickets online.

Ryanair has been aggressively cutting prices this year and last month it put two million seats on sale offering flights at under €10 from Ireland to the Britain and Europe.

Earlier this month, the group posted pre-tax profits of £111.4 million for the year to March 31st, up from £79.7 million previously.