Ryanair and Wizz Air’s July passenger numbers take off to record altitudes
BUDGET airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air yesterday revealed soaring passenger numbers in July.
The 30-year-old Irish no-frills carrier announced that it flew 10.1m customers in July, an increase of 11 per cent from a year earlier.
Its load factor – a measurement of how full its flights are – was 95 per cent full last month, up from 91 per cent a year ago, a record for Ryanair.
The airline’s spokesman Kenny Jacobs said: “This is the first time ever that any airline has carried more than 10m international customers in one calendar month… These record customer numbers and highest ever load factors are due to our lower fares, our stronger forward bookings and the continuing success of our Always Getting Better customer experience programme, which continues to deliver stronger than expected traffic and load factors on our biggest ever summer schedule.”
Meanwhile, Wizz Air has lifted passenger numbers by 20 per cent for July compared with the same period in 2014. The FTSE 250 listed airline had 1.97m passengers in July this year, up from 1.64m passengers in July 2014. Wizz Air increased its load factor, by 1.1 percentage points to 92.7 per cent from 91.6 per cent.
The central and eastern European airline said in the rolling 12 months to 31 July 2015, passenger numbers were up by 20 per cent to 17.64m. In July, the company took delivery of its 63rd brand new A320 from Airbus.
The peak summer season also brought enhancements and changes by Wizz Air to its customers, including the option of bringing a second personal item such as a handbag or briefcase on board as well as the small or large cabin bag chosen during the booking process.