Following months of skeleton services, it seems as though Ryanair’s return to the skies has paid off. The airline saw a 72% load factor on services for July. With around 40% of its schedule back in operation, Ryanair is driving Europe’s aviation recovery.
The recovery of European aviation, while slow, is now well underway. Indeed, for the week ending August 2nd, the European aviation industry saw an average of 15,507 flights per day, according to the Eurocontrol Director General via Twitter. Indeed, the airline consistently has the highest number of daily flights.
Driving Europe’s aviation recovery
While not solely behind Europe’s aviation recovery, Ryanair is playing a significant part. The Irish low-cost relaunched services with around 1,000 flights per day from July 1st. According to the latest data from Eurocontrol, it looks as though this has almost doubled in August to just below 2,000 daily flights.
#COVID19 An overview of week 31 shows a traffic growth of 5% week on week and an average increase of 744 flights a day taking the average daily number of flights up to 15,507 @Transport_EU @CANSOEurope @ACI_EUROPE @IATA @A4Europe @eraaorg @EBAAorg @ECACceac pic.twitter.com/ut4RwQVfnA
— Eamonn Brennan (@eurocontrolDG) August 3, 2020
According to data from FlightAware, aviation in Europe currently sits at around 46% of its 2019 figure. It is quite clear that there was a massive jump in passenger numbers from July 1st. While many airlines were likely involved in pushing the numbers up, With 1,000 daily flights, Ryanair undoubtedly played a considerable role in this.
Across the board, the recovery of European aviation is following positive trends. Just yesterday, Simple Flying reported that Ryanair’s rival, easyJet, saw passenger demand recover quicker than expected.
Ryanair’s July figures
Ryanair’s return to service hasn’t been a waste. Indeed, in July, the airline carried a staggering 4.4 million passengers, with a load factor of 72%. This means that on average, each Boeing 737 with 189 seats had around 136 passengers.
Commenting, Ryanair’s Dara Brady, said,
“Ryanair operated at 40% of capacity in July and will operate at around 60% in August. These additional seats will allow more friends and families to get that well deserved Summer holiday in the sun and allow people to return to work.”
To ensure the health and safety of both passengers and crew, Ryanair has adopted several additional measures both at the airport and in the skies. The most obvious of these sees every passenger required to wear a facemask for the duration of their flight.
The airline has cut its catering offering and is requiring all purchases to be paid for via card or contactless payment. To reduce movement in the cabin after takeoff, passengers are asked to contact the cabin crew if they wish to use the restroom. However, unlike the German flag carrier Lufthansa, Ryanair has not altered its boarding or disembarkation processes.
Stay informed: Sign up for our daily aviation news digest.
Ryanair has always been a formidable player in the European aviation industry. Indeed before the current situation, the Irish airline was carrying 149 million passengers. With over 1,800 routes across 40 countries, the airline is the world’s number one airline by international passenger numbers.
Have you flown with Ryanair since they returned to the skies? Let us know what you thought of the experience in the comments!
