Budget carrier Ryanair has reported May passenger numbers rose 10% year on year to 17 million.
Its load factor for the month was up by two percentage points on May 2022, reaching 94%.
For the 12 months to the end of May, the airline carried 171.9 million passengers, up 39% year on year.
The traffic figures follow news that a Hungarian court has annulled a €763,000 fine imposed on Ryanair last August by the Hungarian Consumer Protection Authority.
It followed a dispute about an “excess profit” tax of €10 per departing passenger imposed when the main airlines in Hungary, including Ryanair, were reporting record Covid-related losses.
The airline passed the tax of €10 per departing passenger onto consumers.
Ryanair said on Thursday (June 1): “In a ruling last week, the Metropolitan Court of Budapest annulled this bogus fine, and confirmed that Ryanair could lawfully pass on this tax to consumers, and that Ryanair’s procedural rights had been ‘violated’.
“The Hungarian Court’s ruling is in line with EU law, which guarantees all airlines the freedom to set prices and pass on retrospective taxes to consumers.
“Ryanair welcomes this ruling, which reverses this absurd and politically motivated fine.”
Juliusz Komorek, Ryanair chief legal officer, Juliusz Komorek, said: “We welcome this ruling by the Hungarian Courts, which properly reflects EU law, which guarantees airlines the freedom to set prices and pass on retrospective taxes, even in cases such as this where there was no lawful basis for the Hungarian government’s bogus ‘excess profits’ tax of €10 per departing passenger, at a time when all EU airlines were losing money due to Covid.
“Ryanair continues to invest in Hungary, and continues to offer low-fare air travel to/from Hungary for both Hungarian citizens and visitors.
“The clarity provided by this Hungarian Court ruling will help us to continue to invest in and grow our traffic in Hungary.”