RYANAIR expects to carry an extra 1m passengers this financial year following the opening of seven new routes.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said bookings on the Stansted routes to Frankfurt, Genoa, Turin, Ancona, Brittany, Biarritz and Derry mean the airline is on target for 6m customers this financial year.
He said:”We are very pleased with bookings on our new routes. It is our intention to carry 6m international passengers this year and we anticipate this with confidence.”
In the year to March 31, the low-cost carrier handled 4.9m customers. This is a 24% increase in passengers over the 1997/98 figure.
Passenger increases contributed to Ryanair’s improved pre-tax profit for 1998/99 of £50.2m, up from £40.7m in the last financial year.
O’Leary added that moves by British Airways to concentrate on business-class passengers and axe some of its short-haul routes would add to Ryanair’s growth potential.
Meanwhile, Ryanair will double Stansted-Carcassone flights on July 1 to twice a day. The route has attracted 75,000 passengers since it was launched a year ago.