Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON:RYA) have seen a rise in passenger traffic in the first month of 2020.
The firm also praised the growth of its spin off Australian firm Lauda, which has seen strong growth over the last few months.
The budget airline told the market that total traffic for January totaled at 10.8 million passengers, which sees a 5% climb from the 10.3 million figure just one year ago.
The rise was driven by the performance of Lauda, which saw a 67% rise in passenger figures from 300,000 to 500,000. Additionally, Load Factor was 91% – another impressive stat to take for shareholders.
Looking at the core Ryanair brand – the firm saw traffic rise by 3% from 10 million to 10.3 million, with a 92% load factor figure.
The airline’s group load factor for January came in at 92%, up from 91% in the same month in 2019 but below its rolling annual figure of 96%, which was one sour note from today’s update.
Look at a rolling annual scale, total traffic rose 8% to 152.9 million compared to 141. million year on year, and the firm told the market that it operated more than 62,000 flights in January.
The update comes today following an impressive trading update which hit the market yesterday.
Ryanair’s strong festive trading
Yesterday, Ryanair reported strong festive trading following a swing back into profit.
In the three month period to December 31 – the airline firm recorded operating profit of €91.3 million, compared to a loss of €68.0 million for the same period a year before.
Notably, total operating revenue in the third quarter was up 21% year on year to €1.91 billion from €1.58 billion. Traffic rose 6.2% to 35.9 million, while revenue per passenger grew 13%. Additionally, the budget airline saw its load factor increase by 1% from 95% to 96%.
Looking at total operating expenses, Ryanair noted that these increased by 9.7% to €1.81 billion from €1.65 billion.
Ryanair are going through a period of transition, however one thing is certain. Passenger figures for the firm across monthly reports are rising – and shareholders will be optimistic as the uncertainty in the industry clears up.
Shares in Ryanair trade at €15 (-0.38%). 4/2/20 11:38BST.
