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PASSENGER NUMBERS AT Ryanair dropped by 4 per cent in March from the previous year, the airline said today.
The number of passengers fell from 5.7 million in March 2011 to 5.5 million last month.
The decrease was the fourth month in a row that passenger figures at the airline dropped.
Passenger numbers at Ryanair dropped by 2 per cent in February compared to the previous year, from 4.57 million to 4.47 million. In Janauary, figures were down 8 per cent compared to January 2011.
In December, passenger figures decreased by 5 per cent compared to the previous December.
The airline has said the decrease in figures was anticipated as it has grounded a number of aircraft. Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:
As previously guided, Ryanair’s 2011/2012 winter traffic was expected to decline by approx 5 per cent as we sit up to 80 aircraft on the ground due to higher oil prices.
The airline also saw a decrease in overall passenger numbers in the final three months of 2011 from 17 million to 16.7 million compared to the previous year. The company brought in an average 17 per cent rise in fares during the same period.
Meanwhile rival airline Aer Lingus saw passenger numbers increase by 8.8 per cent in February compared to the previous month, and increase by 7.5 per cent compared to February 2011.
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Think the gap price wise is closing if booked well enough in advance, know which one I’d prefer to travel on!!
booked flights this summer for a little cheaper than ryanair (mainly cuz aer lingus charge less for a bag and ket u carry more weight making sharing easier) with aer lingus during the sale and tbh when its not much cheaper with ryanair I’d pick aer lingus purely for the better service I’ve experienced (most experiences I’ve had with ryanair staff has been miserable!)
Many moons ago Ryanair was a low cost airline , today it is not , infact it is all the things you would not want an airline to be,people will vote with their feet and go where they will be treated like customers not like cattle, ryanair do not give poor service they give no service!!!!
Aer Lingus are friendlier than Ryanair and booked in advance are cheaper and actually get you to an airport in the city .Not one hour outside the city .
When all is taken into consideration Aer Lingus offer better value for money and they are not so strict on the one bag. See women bring hand luggage and a handbag too.Which Ryanair don’t allow.
People are using their feet and want quality and cheaper prices and other airlines now offer that.
that handbag and bag rule pisses me right off! was queing up to get on board and some sour wagon demanded i put my small handbag in my carryon! put it in and as soon as i left the queue took it back out! i mean jesus a handbag is the easiest way not to lose ur tickets/passport/wallet!
talk about a bad attempt at misdirection!!
not to worry – the numbers are down cos we grounded flights…..??
eh i think you’ll find you grounded the flights because the numbers were down!!
Could be because less people are flying in general? Less money.
Passenger numbers are down because Ryan air is no longer a low cost airline. It’s €70 to check a bag with them, almost double the price of Aer Lingus – their nearest competitor in Ireland.
yes ryanair brought cheap flights to the masses but what a horrible experience it is.
This is just a reflection of the economy at Large. But irish people should fly with an Airline that treats its staff properly. See all those grumpy Ryanair flight attendents? Well you try working your arse off for 350 quid a week. Ryaniar are the wallmart of the skies. Fly with a airline that pays its staff a living wage show O leary that its not all about the bottom line. Smart arse he is.
Thats what he gets for making up his own charges
Considering how small a portion of Ryanair’s passenger numbers come from Ireland, I doubt it has a huge amount to do with the domestic economy or competitition with Aer Lingus.
More than likely a number of factors like
– UK Airp Passenger Duty
– A weak European market
– Ryanair possibly starting to hit the maximum number of seats that their model can support.
Still, it’s not great news for them. A grounded plane is one that is creating no revenue to pay for the capital that was use dto buy it.
Good, I bloody hate Ryan Air
People are peed off with the extra gimmicks to get get more money out of you, the website automatic ticked boxes, the whopping card usage charges, the squashed conditions, the hassle’s and more of flying with Ryanair.
R.Air down – A.Lingus numbers up (again)… RyanAir can spin it all they want, some people are preferring to pay equal or more with Lingus for less hassle, comfort and easier booking and boarding pass gain.
I fly about twenty times per year and have only flew with Ryanair once, and that was because Are Lingus don’t fly to Liverpool. I will always pay more to fly Aer Lingus as the service is better, clientele are mostly sober, they’re not so uptight about the carry on baggage once it’s not obscene – which I think is essential, and, they’re the national airline of Ireland and for that I’m proud. Happy O’Leary couldn’t get his grubby mitts on the company.
Can’t stand Ryan Air or M O’Leary. He is arrogant, pig ignorant when being interviewed and he thinks he’s bloody right all the time.
Unfortunately, I flew with Ryan Air, twice (my flights were booked for me) Twice I nearly got sick with the landings. He should retrained the pilots and show them how to bloody land without giving the passagers whiplash.
Good man Damien!
If you keep banging up prices, and reduce capacity, then it’s only common logic that you sell less fares!
Aerlingus and the likes won’t be far behind RyanAir with upping baggage fees if fuel prices continue to rise. Every extra kilo reduces the profit margin on a ticket. O’Leary’s next step will probably be to charge passengers by their weight on top of a base price.
You know what, was wedged into a middle seat over to Heathrow the other morning. The two sitting either side of me were significantly over weight and when I finally unfolded myself from my seat at the end I had sweat patches on both my shoulders….THEIR SWEAT! So I for one would welcome such a charge after that experience! Lol
Nobody likes a fatty.
Will never fly with Ryanair again. As said above, majority of times aer lingus are cheaper and they don’t treat passengers like crap and harass over a small handbag. Always willing to pay more than fly with them.
Over the past 6-7 years Ryanair have continued to add ‘extras’ to their final price in the belief that the average consumer will just stomach it and for a short time they have, however this fleecing policy is now catching up with them. With Main stream airlines beginning to get wise to the fact that people actually want flights without hidden charges and a little bit of service Ryanair will continue to “ground” aircraft for one reason or another. Unfortunately with Ryanair being one of the most cash rich airlines in the world we are not likely to see them disappear anytime soon.
The most important statistic here which is missing, is market share in europe. Is that up or down.
Ryanair are finally going to pay for the lousy way they have treated their passengers for years. They’ve steadily jacked up their prices and kept adding more and more extras. A flight to Carcassone on 8th of July, Sunday to Sunday is priced at 1250 euro and that’s without the extras! Who on earth can even dream paying that. O Leary thought he had everyone hooked on flying without thinking of the cost but not anymore. In the last 4 years the cost of flying to France has multiplied by 8! People won’t and can’t do it any more. Finally I can’t even get into Ryanair website as they have it run by other companies who are taking their own costs also. It’s a pure rip off for certain now.
Eh, considering they don’t fly there on a Sunday it’s not e1250. No idea where you’re getting those numbers. 1 week from the 9 July is e240. Stop spouting waffle please.
Baffles me how you think it’s a rip off considering how much oil is costing these days.
I had the misfortune of having to fly on Ryanair to Dinard on Sunday, I had booked to come back on Monday night another airline. I got delayed by the French air traffic controllers strike, about three hours but I got back, free drinks on FlyBe due to the delay (that was not their fault).
My colleague from work was due back from Dinard on Tuesday, before I even boarded on Monday night Ryanair had cancelled his Tuesday flight. He had to drive to Paris and get the Eurostar to London, only got his car back from East Mids today.
They don’t give a shite about anyone other than themselves. I appreciate the ATC strike wasn’t their dispute, but it wasn’t my colleagues either and they fell well short of the airline I was with.
IF (and its a big IF) Ryanair pulled the aircraft in advance knowing how the sums were adding up, isn’t it another perfect example of their attitude to customers.
They couldn’t care less !
I understand their financing model is a fixed lease-purchase, so it doesn’t matter if the aircraft is in the air at any given time, provided it has generated a target profit over the period of the lease-purchase arrangement.
VERY GOOD … everyone who use their service knows that it is the WORST company in Ireland. To Ryanair …stop lying your customers, take that SS blondie witch from the gate desk, make more space for customers knees in the plane, make sure your cabin luggage size is the same as the others, stop making up the flight schedule … our plane is 20 min before lol … and last thing … make customer care available. To all …ryanair – dont use. avoid :)
Aerlingus way to go.
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