Well it now appears that the strength of the low cost airline model has been proven yet again. This time it was proven over the summer as Ryanair and easyJet posted high traffic numbers. Apparently these well known budget airlines collectively sold some 12.88 million seats in August. This is a rise of 10.5 percent year-on-year. Ryanair gained further market share by growing 12 percent to 7.88 million against easyJet’s total of 5.2 million.

Of course, it is worth noting that easyJet filled more of its seats, achieving a 92.3 percent load factor. This is an increase of 0.5 percent for the airline. Ryanair achieved a load factor of 89 percent, which is down 1 percent from its total a year ago. Due to these numbers, easyJet said that the suggestion that the public is not taking holidays abroad is unfounded.

A spokesman for the easyJet company said that demand for going abroad remains very strong. People might be avoiding the expensive holidays that cost thousands of pounds, but they are not avoiding holidays altogether. Budget flights across Europe seem to be catching on.

During the past 12-month period, easyJet has seen total passenger numbers jump 7.7 percent to 48.8 million. The company’s load factor increased 1.5 percent to 86.9 percent. Ryanair has enjoyed an increase of 13.6 percent to 70.9 million passengers. However, its overall load factor during the past 12 months has fallen 8 percent to 82 percent.

Of course, it is important to remember that Ryanair’s figures include the 1.45 million passengers who were booked on flights but unable to fly because of unnecessary closures. These closures include the European Union airspace closure due to the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis.

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Filed under Business & Finance, Travel News, UK News

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 8:06 am and is filed under Business & Finance, Travel News, UK News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.