Ryanair and Wizz Air passenger numbers in November slipped to their lowest level since the peak of the pandemic earlier this year, as the pair cut capacity amid a swathe of fresh lockdowns and travel restrictions.
The Irish low-cost carrier handled just 2 million passengers in November, figures reported this morning show. This is down 82% on the same month in 2019.
It marks the airline’s lowest monthly passenger numbers and biggest year-on-year decline since June, when its flights were at a virtual standstill. Ryanair capacity and traffic has been sliding since August, when it carried 7 million passengers - almost half previous year levels.
Wizz’s traffic numbers tumbled 85% compared with November 2019, as the airline transported just 456,000 passengers. This is the budget carrier’s lowest passenger level since May.
The traffic was based on airline capacity at a fifth of November 2019 levels.
Ryanair and Wizz are the first two European carriers to release traffic data for November.
| Airline | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | Passengers (m) | 0.4 | 4.4 | 7 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 2.0 |
| change vs 2019 | -97 | -70% | -53% | -64% | -70% | -82% | |
| Load factor | 72% | 73% | 71% | 73% | |||
| Wizz Air | Passengers (m) | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 |
| change vs 2019 | -86 | -53% | -41% | -59% | -69% | -85% | |
| Load factor | 52% | 61% | 71% | 65% | 66% | 68% | |
| Source: FightGlobal analysis of airline traffic data | |||||||
