Ryanair passenger numbers soar as Covid vaccine restores travel confidence

Ryanair’s passenger numbers surged in June, with the easing of travel restrictions and successful rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme prompting a flood of holidaymakers to seek out summer sunshine in Italy, Spain and Portugal. The no-frills airline, which in June reported the biggest annual loss in its 35-year history, carried 5.3 million passengers on 38,000 flights last month. In June 2020, Ryanair carried only 400,000 passengers. There has been a steady increase in passengers for Europe’s biggest airline in recent months – in April there were 1 million travellers and 1.8 million in May – as the easing of travel restrictions across parts of the continent fuels a gradual recovery in the hard-hit aviation industry. Ryanair said the most popular destinations booked by holidaymakers in June were Italy, Spain and Portugal. The green shoots of recovery are also evident in traffic figures issued by Ryanair’s rival Wizz Air, which carried 1.55 million passengers last month. This is more than triple the 502,000 passengers who flew in the same month last year.<br/>