Ryanair traffic up 8% in October despite cancellations

Just days after saying it still expects to make record annual profits this year despite its rota fiasco and subsequent cancellations back in September, budget airline Ryanair reported an 8% jump in traffic for October.

Passenger numbers grew to 11.8m from 10.9m in October 2016, while the load factor - which gauges how full the planes are - ticked up to 96% from 95%. On a rolling annual basis, traffic was up 12% to 128.2m customers.

Head of marketing Kenny Jacobs said the figures include the flight cancellations announced in September.

"Ryanair customers can look forward to even lower fares when they make advance bookings for winter or summer, so there's never been a better time to book a low fare flight on Ryanair," he added.

On Tuesday, Ryanair posted an 11% increase in first-half profit to €1.3bn even as it cut fares by 5%. Revenues rose 7% to €4.4bn and customer numbers were up 11% to 72.1m in the six months to the end of September.

At 1015 BST, the shares were down 0.6% to €17.26.