This week, Ryanair released its monthly passenger numbers report, which saw the carrier handle 18.9m passengers in August 2023.
Such a figure is 11% up compared to the same period last year, with load factors remaining unchanged at 96%.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Ryanair Continues To Storm Ahead: NATS ATC Failure Affected The Airline…
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Ryanair continues to storm ahead in terms of their passenger numbers.
However, they were keen to note in their release about its opposition to the NATS report that was released, which looked at the recent ATC failure.
The Irish low-cost carrier mentioned that over 350 flights were affected by the ATC failure, which resulted in 63,000 passengers having to cancel, and begin the process of refunds, where appropriate.
This is what Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said on the matter:
“This Preliminary NATS Report is factually inaccurate. It ridiculously understates the number of flights that were cancelled or delayed through the NATS system failure on Mon 28th Aug last.”
“In Ryanair’s case, we suffered over 370 flight cancellations (over 63,000 passengers), and more than 1,500 flight delays over the 2 days (Mon & Tues over 270,000 passengers delayed).”
“This whitewash report, which understates the number of flights cancellations and flight delays, fails to explain why 1 inaccurate flight plan brought down not just the NATS ATC system, but also the backup system.”
“NATS should explain why its backup system failed, and what they are doing to introduce an effective backup system, rather than the rubbish they have at the moment.”
Either way, this hasn’t prevented Ryanair from continuing to grow compared to the same period last year, but all eyes will be on them to see how the rest of the year goes for them.
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