Ryanair and Wizz Air passengers surge in January, beat pre-pandemic

(Alliance News) - Budget airlines Ryanair Holdings PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Thursday reported a surge in passengers during January, beating pre-Covid restriction figures of January 2020.

Swords, Dublin-based Ryanair said it carried 11.8 million passengers in January 2023, up 69% from 7.0 million a year ago and 9.3% higher than 10.8 million in January 2020, which was the last January with no or minimal Covid restrictions. The load factor increased to 91% from 79% in January 2022, but was lower than 92% in January 2020.

Budapest-based peer Wizz said it carried 4.1 million passengers in January 2023, up 73% year-on-year from 2.4 million and beating January 2020's figure of 3.2 million passengers by 32%. Last month's load factor grew to 86% from 80% a year ago, but fell short of 90% it reported for January 2020.

January's capacity increased by 60% to 4.8 million seats from 3.0 million seats and beat January 2020's capacity of 3.5 million by 38%.

On a rolling 12-months basis, Wizz Air's capacity climbed 76% to 54.5 million seats from GBP31.0 million seats at January 31, 2022. This beat January 2020's 43.1 million by 26%. Passenger figures more than doubled to 47.4 million from 23.5 million a year ago and were 17% higher than 40.4 million in January 2020.

Wizz plans new flights to Istanbul, Antalya and Dalaman, connecting these three cities in Turkey with Hungary, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, and the UK, starting in March.

Ryanair shares were up 2.7% to EUR15.33 each on Thursday morning, while Wizz shares were up 4.3% at 2,767.00 pence.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter

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