Ryanair carries record 129m passengers in 2017, but rostering issue means it is not going to be biggest in Europe

Ryanair passenger numbers for 2017 grew 10pc to 129m.
December passengers up 3pc to 9.3m
Load factor at 95 third highest level ever
Likely to finish a close second to Lufthansa as Europe’s largest

Ryanair passenger growth has slowed substantially to 3pc in December from an average of 10pc, impacted by September’s rostering issues. Overall passenger numbers for 2017 are up 10pc to a record 129m
The decline in growth has almost certainly prevented Ryanair finishing ahead of the five airline Lufthansa group as Europe’s largest airline for the second year in succession..
To end November Lufthansa had carried 120.7m, 330,000 ahead of Ryanair on 120.37m, followed by IAG on 97.15m, Air France/KLM on 91.3m, Easyjgt on 76.45m, Turkish on 63.14m, Aeroflot on 46.4m and Norwegian on 30.74m.
Load factor at 95pc is the joint third highest level reached by the airline. Ryanair load factors reached a world record 97pc in July, August and September.