Passenger growth at Ryanair outstripped its rival Easyjet last month, performance updates from the two companies showed yesterday.
The number of people flying with Easyjet jumped by 9.5 per cent to 7.5 million in May compared with last year, while Ryanair saw passenger levels rise by 11 per cent to 11.8 million over the same period.
Focusing on the load factor — a measure which judges how efficiently airlines are filling seats — Easyjet remained at 95 per cent and Ryanair rose by 1 per cent to match that figure.
Travel and leisure stocks have come under pressure on the London Stock Exchange as investors respond to the London Bridge and Manchester terror attacks.
The travel industry has seen demand for holidays to Turkey and Egypt suffer over the past year, as tourists remain cautious following the bombing of a plane from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and a violent attempted coup by the Turkish army.
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There are concerns that Britain’s tourism industry could suffer further setbacks after suffering three terror attacks in three months.
Easyjet announced considerable half-year losses in May after being stung by the later timing of Easter and the collapse in the value of the pound after Brexit.
The low-cost airline reported a £236 million pre-tax loss in the six months to March 31, compared with an £18 million loss during the same period last year.
Ryanair pledged last month to continue lowering the price of fares as it posted a 6 per cent rise in annual profits despite intense competition from its rivals and the Brexit referendum. The Irish airline, which is Europe’s largest carrier by passenger numbers, has helped to drive down short-haul ticket prices across the Continent by increasing its capacity by 33 per cent, amounting to 30 million seats in the past two years.
In the coming year, it is expected that Ryanair will slow the pace of capacity growth to about 8 per cent, or 10 million seats, and ticket prices are likely to fall by 5 to 7 per cent.
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Michael O’Leary, the airline’s chief executive, said the airline was facing a “difficult’’ period of trading as it posted profits of €1.31 billion for the year to March 31.
In 2014, the carrier launched a four-year plan to improve customer service, including relaxing cabin baggage allowances and renovating its digital services.
The programme has proved to be a success for Ryanair and led to an increase in traffic, with the airline carrying 120 million passengers in the third year of the programme.