Ryanair passenger numbers grew 10pc to 9.4m in March, compared with 8.5m in both March 2016 and March 2015 and 5.2m in March 2014.
Load factor was unchanged at 94pc. Rolling annual traffic to March grew 13pc to 120m customers. The airline estimates it lost a further100,000 passengers to French air traffic control strikes.
Kenny Jacobs said: Our rolling annual traffic reached 120m. March traffic was also impacted by the cancellation of over 530 flights due to repeated ATC and some handling strikes, which cut our traffic by approx. 100,000 customers. We call on the French Government and European Commission to take action to prevent another summer of ATC disruptions and urge all customers to sign the A4E online petition, Keep Europe’s Skies Open, (http://www.keepeuropesskiesopen.com/) to help protect Europe from repeated disruption by ATC unions.”
