Ryanair sees May passenger numbers top 20m

Ryanair’s monthly passenger carryings rose in May to more than 20 million.

Europe’s largest short-haul airline saw year on year numbers rise by 6% to give a total of 20.7 million last month.

The increase from 19.6 million in the same month last year came as the no-frills carrier operated more than 114,000 flights and maintained a load factor of 95%.

Last month’s performance saw the rolling annual passenger total increase by 4% to 210.4 million with a 94% load factor.

The figures were released 24 hours after budget rival Wizz Air reported 7.13 million passengers flown in May, up 26% year on year.

EasyJet reports passenger numbers on a quarterly basis and carried 19.3 million in the first three months of the calendar year.