August has proved to be the busiest month ever in Ryanair's history for numbers of passengers carried. With 18.9 million passengers choosing to fly with the airline last month, it remains the dominant force among European low-cost airlines.

A record-breaking month 

Dublin-based low-cost megacarrier Ryanair is celebrating its busiest-ever month in terms of passengers carried. During August, the airline carried 18.9 million passengers across its network, operating 103,000 flights in total. The airline's average load factor remained pegged at the 96% mark.

This impressive figure for passengers carried represents a 16.9% increase over the same month in 2022 and is up from the 14.9 million people who chose to fly with the airline in August 2019, before the pandemic hit global air travel.

This new record number was achieved despite the airline being forced to cancel 350 services as the month drew to a close. Last week, a computer failure at the UK's air traffic control provider NATS led to 63,000 Ryanair passengers having their flights canceled and being forced to make alternative travel arrangements.

Poor weather throughout the UK and Ireland during August may have contributed to this figure, as British and Irish holidaymakers' demand for last-minute vacations positively impacted the company.

Speaking to the media at the time, the airline's Group CEO, Michael O'Leary, commented that the prolonged heatwave across Southern Europe and wildfires in Spain, Greece, and Italy were not deterring last-minute travelers from booking Ryanair flights.

Month-on-month records 

Coming hot on the heels of a previously record-breaking July, when the airline carried 18.7 million passengers, the Irish airline group continues to go from strength to strength. Indeed, with such record figures being posted month on month, the airline reports that it is on track to reach 183.5 million passengers in the year ending March 2024.

Ryanair is forecasting continued growth of around 9% for its full-year financial results, which will be published next March.

Its full-year estimate was revised down from the initially predicted 185 million passengers following prolonged Boeing delivery woes involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8 for much of this year.

Not all plane sailing 

One could be forgiven for thinking that, reading these latest passenger numbers, Ryanair has it easy. Operating a staggering 2,538 routes across Europe and North Africa with a fleet of almost 650 aircraft across the Ryanair group of airlines, the carrier is by some margin the largest low-cost carrier in Europe.

But with such dominance comes a greater scope for risk, particularly from external factors across the airline's network in Europe. From industrial action by French air traffic controllers to NATS air traffic computer failures, and from Spanish airports increasing their fees to Dublin Airport restricting night flights, the airline has faced all these issues over the past couple of months alone.

Continuing on a growth trajectory 

Notwithstanding these factors, however, Ryanair remains on a staunchly upward trajectory. Almost 200 new routes have been added to Ryanair's network over the past few months, with new bases being established in Belfast (BFS), Lanzarote (ACE), and Tenerife (TFS).

Additionally, two weeks ago, the airline announced the reopening of a base at Copenhagen's Kaastrup Airport after an absence of eight years. The company aims to operate 24 destinations from the Danish capital using a pair of Boeing 737s this winter.

Further destinations are expected to be added from other European bases throughout the forthcoming winter, as well as an expansion in the Albanian air travel market.