DUBLIN—Ryanair’s load factor—a measure of how well an airline is filling available seats—rose above 90 percent for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as traffic rose sharply during the key Easter holiday period.
Ryanair flew 14.2 million people in April compared to just 1 million during lockdown a year ago and 13.5 million in April 2019, the second month in a row it has carried more passengers than in the corresponding pre-pandemic period.
The Irish airline, Europe’s largest by pasenger numbers, said it operated over 82,600 flights in April with a 91 percent load factor.
Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said earlier this year that he expected Ryanair’s aircraft to be almost 90 percent full by April and above that level in the summer. The airline has said it is profitable when occupancy reaches 80 percent.
Its load factor regularly reached at least 96 percent a month before the pandemic.
The low cost carrier expects to fly 14 percent more capacity this summer than in the same season of 2019, and will carry a record 165 million passengers in the year to March 2023 up from just under 100 million in the previous year and a pre-COVID record of 149 million.
