Ryanair passenger traffic rises to 15.4m in May

Ryanair said it carried 15.4 million passengers last month as air travel returned to growth and Covid-19 restrictions were largely lifted.

That compared to 1 million passengers carried in May last year, and brought the rolling total number of passengers that flew with the airline to over the previous year to 123.9 million. Load factor last month was 92 per cent.

The figures show a surge in demand for air travel as the peak holiday season gets underway. Ryanair carried 14.2 million passengers in April.

The airline published its annual results in May, warning that the recovery was fragile. It lost €355 million in the last financial year, which ended on March 31st, and earned €4.8 billion in revenue from the 97.1 million passengers it flew over the 12 months. That was almost treble the €1.64 billion it generated in its previous financial year, during which Covid-19 mostly grounded air travel.