Ryanair traffic drops on the month in November but load factor improves

(Sharecast News) - Ryanair said on Thursday that traffic rose on the year but fell on the month in November, although the load factor improved.
The budget airline carried 10.2m passengers, up from 2m in the same month a year ago, which was severely impacted by Covid travel restrictions. Meanwhile, the load factor - which gauges how full the planes are - improved to 86% from 62% in November 2020.

The traffic numbers were down on the month, however, as the airline carried 11.3m passengers in October. The load factor in October was 84%.

Broker Liberum, which rates the shares at 'hold', said: "The volume recovery continues with load factors continuing to improve on recent months, but volumes down slightly on October reflecting the seasonal pattern as the weaker winter season begins.

"Given recent management commentary, the volume recovery has probably come at the expense of significantly lower average fares. Compared with November 2019, passenger numbers were at 93% of pre-pandemic levels. However, capacity was actually above pre-pandemic levels at 103%. This was the first month where Ryanair's capacity has exceeded pre-pandemic levels."