Reuter, Dublin — Europe’s largest airline by passenger counts announced on Wednesday that April saw 16 million passengers, an increase of 13% year over year and the company’s third busiest month ever.
The average number of vacant seats on each aircraft dropped to 6% for the time period, which included the Easter vacations. As a result of strikes at French air traffic control last month, the airline had to cancel more than 650 flights, impacting almost 118,000 customers.
Only twice before, in July and August of last year, did the Irish airline carry more than 16 million passengers in a single month.
Even though Boeing’s delivery delays will force Ryanair to reduce some flights in July and August, the airline still plans to meet its goal of increasing passenger numbers to 185 million this fiscal year, up from 169 million in the 12 months to end-March.
