Ryanair carried seven million passengers in January – up from 1.3 million in the same month of 2021, but a drop compared to December as restrictions to tackle the Omicron variant of Covid hit travel.
The budget carrier operated more than 46,400 flights last month, with a 79% load factor, compared to 69% in January 2021, when lockdown restrictions were in force.
Last month’s figure was a drop from 9.5 million passengers in December, which also saw a higher load factor of 81%.
The airline noted that traffic in December and January was “badly affected by Omicron travel restrictions”.
On Monday, Ryanair announced a group loss of €96 million for the three months to December.
It cut its January programme by 33% because of the Omicron restrictions and expects the first half of February to be weak.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said expects a strong recovery in the second half of February, which coincides with the school half term holiday, and a strong bounce back in traffic for summer 2022 – as long as there are no more negative Covid developments.
Picture by Iakov Filimonov/shutterstock.com
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