Ryanair passenger numbers up

No-frills airline Ryanair carried over 8 million passengers last month, according to new figures published today.

The carrier said 8.14 million passengers flew with it last month, up 6 per cent on the 7.68 million for the same month a year earlier.

The airline became the first airline in Europe to carry eight million passengers in a single month in July.

Ryanair said that in the year to the end of August it had carried 76.4 million passengers.

The load factor - which represents the number of passengers as a percentage of total seats available - was unchanged at 89 per cent, the company said.

Load factor for the year to the end of August was at 83 per cent.