Ryanair pulls further ahead of pack even after pilot debacle

Ryanair strengthened its dominance of Europe’s discount-airline market in 2017 by adding more customers than any of its rivals, even as a scheduling foul-up contributed to its smallest gain in passenger numbers in 3 years. The company filled 12m more seats in 2017 than a year earlier, while second-ranked EasyJet said Friday that it flew 7.2m more passengers in the period. No-frills airlines continued to gain market share across Europe last year, with the top 6 adding a combined 44m passengers. Ryanair accounted for almost 30% of that total, despite a botched reworking of pilot leave that led to cancellations of thousands of flights and forced the company to accept unionisation after crews gained bargaining power. The 10% advance in passenger numbers marked Ryanair’s weakest growth rate since 2014. <br/>