Ryanair boosts airline industry
The airline industry has shown signs of improving this month, with both budget and national carriers releasing positive figures.
Ryanair revealed today that its passenger numbers for October had increased to well over two million – nearly 50% higher than the previous year, although the airline’s load factor was down slightly for the month.
KLM, the Dutch carrier that has effectively been taken over by Air France, today announced that its passenger load factor had increased by 1.4 % to 83.3% in last month, compared to October 2002.
And with further consolidation likely to take place in the industry, commentators have suggested that load factors – the proportion of seats filled on each plane – could continue to improve, as flights are cut.
KLM also reported a 4% increase in intercontinental business traffic, suggesting that the slowly improving economy is tempting the vital business sector – which has been falling off since before the September 11th attacks in 2001 – back into the air.
The news on passenger figures follows a good set of results from Ryanair at the start of the week. The company reported that its profits before taxation had increased to £168.7m in the first half of 2003, from £142m for the same period last year.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, noted: ‘These results demonstrate another strong performance from Ryanair’s low-fares model which continues to grow profitably in adverse market
conditions across Europe.’
Ryanair plans to introduce 15 new European routes this winter, although it is expected to cancel some of its French operations, and there are concerns about the future of other routes that are currently being investigated by the European Commission.
