Wizz Air carryings fell marginally year-on-year in April as aircraft were grounded due to the need to replace engines.
Passenger numbers fell by 0.3% to 4.9 million with a load factor down by 0.6 percentage points to 90.3% against the same month last year.
The Hungarian budget carrier has been forced to ground 45 Airbus aircraft as GTF engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney were recalled.
The airline said: “The capacity operated during the month was nearly flat year-on-year, reflecting the impact from GTF engine-related grounded fleet.
“Load factor came in slightly lower verses last year, impacted by the earlier Easter weekend causing the seasonal rise in outbound travel to fall in the prior month.”
Wizz Air converted its entire fleet based at Luton airport to new generation Airbus A321neos a year earlier than planned.
The move came as a new “aspirational target” was set of powering 10% of its flights with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030.
The new goal will support Wizz Air’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions per passenger/km by 25% by 2030.
Meanwhile, rival Ryanair saw April carryings rise to 17.3 million passengers, up 8% from 16 million in the same month last year. The load factor slipped from 94% to 92%.
The monthly figure gave Europe’s largest airline a rolling annual total of 185 million passengers, up 9%.
The April performance came despite almost 700 flights being cancelled due to the Israel-Gaza conflict and more than 340 as a result of a French air traffic control strike on April 25. Ryanair operated a total of 98,400 flights in the month.