Ryanair hits revised passenger target for 2023-24 financial year

Ryanair booked 183.7m passengers in its financial year ending 31 March 2024, in line with guidance it revised downwards after delays last year in deliveries of Boeing 737 Max jets. The low-cost carrier, the biggest operator in Europe by passenger number, had originally been targeting 185m passengers for its financial year just ended. However, it last year scaled this target back to 183.5m citing Boeing delivery delays last spring and autumn. In releasing March traffic results today, Ryanair confirms it carried 183.7m passengers for the 12 months to 31 March 2024. That marks an increase of 9% on the 168.6m it handled in the previous year and is well above the 148.6m high it carried in its 2019 financial year before the pandemic. Ryanair’s load factor for the year stood at 94% – an increase of one percentage point over the previous year. The Irish carrier had originally hoped to pass the 200m passenger mark for its new financial year just begun. But continuing delivery delays – it now expects to receive 17 fewer Max aircraft by this June than originally planned – have prompted it to lower its passenger expectations to between 198-200m for the 12 months ending 31 March 2025.<br/>