Ryanair says it carried 6.44 million passengers in May, an increase of 17% from the same month last year. The load factor, or percentage of seats filled, was steady at 81%.
Earlier this week, the airline said it would pay a dividend to shareholders for the first time since it floated on the stock market in 1997, as it announced pre-tax profits of €341m for the year to the end of March. This compared with a loss of €180m last year.
Separate figures from British Airways show that it carried 14.2% fewer passengers last month than in May 2009.
A total of just under 2.37 million passengers flew with the airline in May 2010 compared with nearly 2.76 million in the same month last year. BA said the cabin crew dispute affected the last 14 days of last month.
The airline said the strike accounted for 'some 6% reduction in capacity'. This meant a drop from 75.1% in May 2009 to 69.7% in May 2010 in BA's passenger load factor - the percentage of seats filled.
