Ryanair expects traffic in August to exceed ” slightly “ the record of 18.7 million of passengers it carried in July. Reservations for September and October are happening so far exactly as planned, said Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson.
The airline, Europe’s largest by passenger numbers, carried a record number of monthly passengers in May, June and July and expects a travel rebound post-pandemic drive traffic up for its fiscal year, which ends in March 2024of 9% compared to the previous year. August passenger numbers are expected to be slightly higher than July as “people still travel”said Wilson. “We don’t see anything unusual in terms of bookings. The momentum in bookings tells us that the booking curve is going to fill in exactly as we expect”Mr. Wilson added regarding bookings in September and October.
Ryanair warned late last month that fares for passengers booking close to their departure dates softened in late June and early July. Costs and tariffs remain the workhorse of low cost. Mr. Wilson was thus in Berlin to warn the German government against the increase in aviation security fees “already excessive”. He said that Ryanair “would like to expand to Germany”but does not need to do so to achieve its overall goal of transporting 300 million passengers per year by March 2034.
Ryanair cut its full-year passenger forecast last month to 183.5 million passengers compared to 185 million due to the impact of strikesin particular Air traffic controllers and possible delivery delays of Boeing. Mr Wilson nevertheless said the Irish low-cost carrier had now received all of its new planes for this summer and was happy with the schedule Boeing had planned for the next tranche of deliveries from October. “At the moment, we have an agreed timetable”did he declare.
