Consumer friendly Ryanair reports passenger rise
Ryanair has attributed last month’s 7% passenger increase to improved customer service, easier-to-use website and other recent changes.
In February it carried 4.5 million customers, a rise of 300,000 on February 2013 figures.
Load factor increased by one percentage point, to 78% and annual traffic in the 12 months to February 2014 was up 3%, to 81.9 million.
Spokesman Robin Kiely attributed the increase to lower fares, easier-to-use website and recent customer service improvements including allocated seats for all customers and the use of personal electronic devices on all flights.
Kiely added: "Further improvements will be rolled out over the coming months as Ryanair continues to lower prices and improve our customer service."
Rival easyJet saw a 2.9% increase in February traffic, to 4.2 million. Load factor increased slightly, by 0.2 percentage points, to 90.7%.
For the rolling 12 months, easyJet reported a 3.5% increase, to 61.6 million passengers.
Last week, Ryanair said it planned to operate long-haul transatlantic flights to the US. However, a TravelMole poll suggests the flights would not be popular among the majority of people.
In response to the question: "Would any of your clients fly Ryanair all the way to the US?", 77% said "No", while 23% said "Yes".
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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