(Alliance News) - Rival budget airlines Ryanair Holdings PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC both saw a dramatic drop in passenger numbers in June as a result of air travel restrictions imposed by governments across Europe to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Ryanair's traffic in June dropped by 97% to 400,000 passengers versus the 14.2 million passengers it carried a year earlier.
The airline's subsidiary Lauda flew no passengers in June compared to 600,000 the year before. In early June, Ryanair announced Lauda's fleet was grounded because of the coronavirus pandemic, but will gradually start flying again on July 1. Ryanair had planned to shutter the loss-making arm but employees agreed to a last-minute wage deal.
Ryanair said it operated just 2,800 scheduled flights in June versus its budgeted schedule of 79,600. The airline noted 95% of its flights arrived on-time.
On a rolling annual basis to June, the airline said it carried 107.2 million passengers, down 27% from 144.3 million a year prior.
Central and eastern European-focused Wizz Air separately reported an 86% fall in June passenger numbers to 502,253 from 3.6 million in June 2019.
Capacity plummeted 76% year-on-year to 961,797 seats from 3.8 million, while the airline's load factor fell 43 basis points to 52.2% from 95.0%.
Available seat kilometres in June fell 75% to 1.52 billion, as revenue passenger kilometres plunged 86% to 802.1 million.
On a rolling basis to June, passengers were down 16% to 30.4 million, while capacity fell 15% to 33.0 million. Load factor slipped 1.1 basis points to 92.0%.
More positively, Wizz Air opened 3 new bases in the month - in Bacau, Romania; Dortmund, Germany; and St Petersburg, Russia - and has launched 64 new routes.
Shares in Ryanair were 2.6% higher in London on Thursday morning at EUR10.87 each. Wizz Air was trading 1.3% higher at 3,386.00 pence.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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