Ryanair traffic rises 6% in January

Budget airline Ryanair has reported a 6% rise in January traffic as the load factor ticked higher.

Traffic last month jumped to 9.3m from 8.8m in January 2017, while the load factor - which gauges how full the planes are - edged up to 91% from 90%.

Meanwhile, rolling annual traffic to January grew 9% to 129m customers.

Earlier this week, Ryanair agreed to recognise the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) to represent all of its employed pilots in the UK, marking a historic turnaround for the airline.

BALPA has signed a voluntary trade union recognition agreement meaning that its reps will negotiate pay, hours, rostering and holidays for Ryanair’s 600 UK-based pilots.