Ryanair flew 9.5 million passengers in December, the airline confirmed on Tuesday.
The Irish carrier published the figures as both the Irish and British governments indicated they would ease travel restrictions imposed last month as Covid’s Omicron strain took hold.
Ryanair said that it operated more than 62,200 flights last month, selling 81 per cent of the available seats, bringing total passenger numbers for December to 9.5 million.
The total is in line with a prediction for the month published when Ryanair warned days before Christmas that full-year financial losses could be €250 million-€450 million.
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However, it is below an earlier forecast of 10-11 million made before Omicron’s emergence last month prompted governments to impose new travel restrictions.
The figure is multiples of the 1.9 million passengers that Ryanair flew in December 2020, when most European governments had effectively locked down.
Ryanair flew 11.2 million people in December 2019, the year before Covid-19 struck.
The airline said in December that it expected to carry between six million and seven million people this month, instead of an originally anticipated 10 million.
However, the company cautioned that those predictions were “hugely sensitive” to further positive or negative Covid news.
Negative tests
It emerged last night that the Irish Government would drop the need for incoming vaccinated travellers to show negative Covid tests from today.
Similarly, Britain's Tory administration announced that from Friday, arriving passengers to England will no longer have to take pre-departure tests.
The Irish Government’s move will mean that fully jabbed passengers will only need valid proof of vaccination, such as the EU digital Covid cert, to enter the State.
Those unvaccinated will have to show a negative result from a PCR test taken 72 hours before departure.
Countries clamped down quickly on travel last month when it emerged that the Omicron strain spread more easily than previous virus versions.
Tough restrictions including German and French bans on “non-essential” travel from the UK, prompted Ryanair to warn that losses could widen in this financial year, which ends on March 31st.
However, both Germany and France have since rowed back on their British tourist bans.
The Irish Government’s demand that vaccinated passengers also produce negative tests sparked widespread confusion following a last-minute change to the date that was introduced.
Airlines including Ryanair are likely to welcome official confirmation that Irish authorities will lift the negative test requirement.
Many EU countries continue to demand that vaccinated passengers produce negative tests alongside proof of inoculation.
