Ryanair and EasyJet See Growing Numbers

Right now, Ryanair and easyJet are faced with great news, as both budget airlines are seeing increases in their passenger numbers, as well as their load factors. However, not every airline is in for good news, as other airlines like British Airways are still seeing falling numbers.

Reports show that Ryanair’s passenger numbers have actually increased by 17 percent to 6.12 million. This is three times more than what British Airways has carried in all of Europe. The load factor is looking good too for the budget airline. The number of passengers, a proportion of the number of seats available, rose by 1 percent to 85 percent overall. Of course, in light of this success, Ryanair did feel the need to come out and dismiss reports that it could take control of Aer Lingus through a rights issue.

As for Easyjet, the budget carrier was able to carry 4.42 million passengers in September. This is an increase of 5.3 percent when compared to last year. The load factor for this airline went up by 1.2 percent to 88.1 percent.

For British Airways, its European passenger numbers actually fell by 2.9 percent to just 1.8 million. The overall traffic for the airline also took a nose dive of 1.7 percent to just 2.92 million passengers. Experts say that the airline is losing passengers to budget airlines in light of the recession, as travelers and businesses are looking to save money on flights. Although British Airways is cutting prices on fares, it is hard for an airline like British Airways to keep up with the prices that are set by no frills airlines.