The airline is Europe’s largest in terms of passengers.
Over the past year, Ryanair has experienced a significant increase in traffic. In December 2023, 12.54 million passengers booked flights with the company, representing a 9% increase on the same period last year, when 11.52 million travelers opted for Ryanair.
Throughout 2023, Ryanair carried more than 181 million passengers, a record and an increase on the 160 million in 2022, the company reported. In December, the company operated 72,500 flights, but 900 of them were canceled due to the ongoing conflicts between Israel and Hamas.
The removal of Ryanair flights by online travel agencies such as Booking.com, Kiwi and Kayak was welcomed by the company. Ryanair has suggested that the move could be a response to pressure from consumer protection agencies or a reaction to the Irish Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Flightbox screen scraper, which stopped the unauthorized scraping of the airline’s data.
However, Ryanair believes that this action could slightly affect load factors over the next two months, reducing them by around 1% to 2%. The company plans to soften short-term yields by encouraging passengers to book directly on its official website, where it also warns of possible scams and excessive fees charged by online travel agencies.
In this way, Ryanair seeks to maintain direct control over its fares and ensure a more transparent experience for its customers.
Related Article: Ryanair connecting Faro-Marrakech
Related Article: Lisbon-bound flight makes emergency landing in Vigo. Portuguese arrested