Number of passengers carried by Ryanair 2011-2022

Ryanair managed to increase the number of passenger until 2020/21 growing from 75.8 million passengers in 2011/12 to 148.6 million passengers in 2019/20. Summer tends to be the busiest months, with 14.9 million passengers uplifted in August 2019. In FY21, the impact of COVID-19 affected the airline industry with Ryanair's passenger traffic dropping to 27.5 million passengers.

Short introduction to Ryanair

Ryanair is an Irish low-cost carrier (LCC) based in Dublin. Founded in 1985, the company participated in the market-making of a highly lucrative industry, namely the LCC market. Starting from the 2000s, the airline group expanded its growth strategy and developed its connectivity across Europe. As a result of effective approaches to its LCC business model, the airline company is becoming a leading one in Europe. Since 2011, the annual revenue of Ryanair more than doubled, reaching roughly 8.5 billion euros in 2019. Similarly, the passenger transport volume of Ryanair grew steadily. In 2018, the airline’s transport volume amounted to approximately 178 billion revenue-passenger-kilometers.

European aviation industry

With a long history, Europe is one of the birthplaces of the aviation industry. From its establishments, the aviation market experienced a multitude of transformations while adapting to the needs and wishes of the travelers. Based on revenue comparisons, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and International Airlines Group were three leading airlines in Europe. Yet based on the number of passengers, Ryanair was the leading airline in Europe, with roughly 72 million people transported in 2021. As across the globe, the market share of LCCs in Europe also increased, thus, transforming the entire aviation industry. In 2020, LCCs held 44.5 percent of the European aviation market, up from 23 percent in 2009.