Ryanair reports busy January, but cancelled 950 flights due to Israel-Hamas war

02 February 2024 , 11:27

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Ryanair has said it flew more passengers in January (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Ryanair, the Dublin-based budget airline, reported that it flew more passengers in January but had to cancel over 950 flights due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The company said it had 12.2 million customers last month, a 3% increase from the 11.8 million people it flew during the same month last year. Despite running about 71,000 flights during January, the ongoing conflict in Gaza forced cancellations.

The firm's load factor, a measure of how well they are filling the seats on their planes, dipped from 91% to 89% year-on-year. Ryanair explained that the load factor reduced because of the removal of its flights from some "pirate" online travel agents in December.

Websites including Booking.com, Kiwi and Kayak decided to take Ryanair off their website, a decision which the airline previously said it "welcomed" because it complained the sites sold its flights without permission. However, the airline warned that this move would impact ticket revenues as it is forced to slash fares to fill seats, leading it to cut its full-year profit outlook.

On the other hand, rival low-cost airline Wizz Air revealed it flew 4.7 million passengers during January, a jump of 14.2% year-on-year. Wizz Air's load factor dropped from 86% to 82%, which it said was a result of an increase in one-way traffic and as it also responded to conflict in the Middle East.

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Meanwhile, the airline's CO2 emissions shot up by nearly a quarter year-on-year in January, outstripping the rise in passenger numbers. However, it claims to still have the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger per kilometre among rival airlines, at about 52 grams on average over the past year, dubbing itself as Europe's "greenest" budget airline.

The company also recently revealed plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv in Israel from March, departing from cities such as London, Rome, and Budapest.

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Lawrence Matheson