Ryanair Passenger Carryings Spike Due to EU Vaccine Rollout

Ryanair saw an early summer spike in passenger carryings as the Covid-19 vaccine rollout sparked European travel recovery.

The no-frills airline group saw numbers rise to 5.3 million in June from just 400,000 in the same month last year.

More than 38,000 flights were operated with a 72% load factor.

The June total compares with 1.8 million carryings in May and one million in April to give the first-quarter total of 8.1 million passengers.

Wizz Air, a competitor, carried 1.5 million passengers in June, with a load factor of 64%, up from 502,000 a year earlier.

With the launch of its sixth Italian base in Naples, the Hungarian budget airline expanded its network by adding 18 new international and local routes.

A third Airbus A321 aircraft was also dispatched to its Albanian base in Tirana.