Ryanair traffic up 3% in December, applies for UK air operator licence

Budget airline Ryanair reported a 3% jump in traffic for December on Wednesday, a day after it said it has applied for a UK air operator licence.

Traffic last month rose to 9.3 million customers from 9m in the same month a year ago, while the load factor - which gauges how full the planes are - ticked up to 95% from 94%.

On a rolling annual basis, traffic grew 10% to 129m customers.

Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs attributed the rise in traffic to lower fares.

“Ryanair customers can look forward to even lower fares for 2018 and we urge all customers who wish to book their summer 2018 holidays to do so now on the Ryanair.com website or mobile app, where they can avail of the lowest fares in Europe,” he said.

Late on Tuesday, Ryanair said it was seeking a licence to operate domestic UK air routes in order to be able to continue to fly from Britain in the event of a hard Brexit.

The airline has applied to the Civil Aviation Authority for a UK Air Operator's Certificate.