Ryanair— Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021
We put together some of the most relevant data about Ryanair’s flight performance in 2021: Flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked the airline’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:
- Flight Analysis
- Monthly Flight Overview
- Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
- Ryanair Flight Punctuality
- Monthly Punctuality Overview
- Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
- Flight Cancellations
- Monthly Cancellation Overview
- Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate
Ryanair — Flight Analysis
We kick off the analysis with Ryanair’s flights from February to June 2021. Besides the overall numbers, we also provide details about Ryanair’s share in terms of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines.
Monthly Flight Overview
Ryanair showed an incredible performance in terms of flights in 2021. Due to COVID-19, the carrier operated only a limited number of some 3,000 flights in February and March. However, since April, Ryanair is back on its way to recovery. The carrier almost tripled the number of flights from March to April and again from May to June. As a result, as shown below, Ryanair was Europe’s biggest airline by flights in June and ranked 8th on a global perspective.
Following the massive flight growth, the share of Ryanair’s flights in relation to total EMEA flights grew massively. For example, Ryanair flights accounted for less than 1% in February and raised more than 8% in June.
February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3,334 | 3,648 | 8,357 | 12,118 | 38,355 | 13,162 |


Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights
According to the above numbers, Ryanair has improved its global and EMEA ranking steadily. The carrier made its way from position 61 (globally) to position eight in June.
Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
---|---|---|---|
February | 1 | 17 | 61 |
March | 1 | 19 | 67 |
April | 1 | 8 | 37 |
May | 1 | 5 | 26 |
June | 1 | 1 | 8 |
Average ’21 | 1 | 10 | 39.8 |
Ryanair Punctuality
In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at Ryanair’s flight performance regarding punctuality. Again, we benchmark Ryanair’s results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.
Monthly Puncutality Overview
Despite enormous flight growth, Ryanair has been able to maintain an extraordinary punctuality level for its flights. Except for February the Ryanair constantly achieved punctuality levels above 90%. As a result, Ryanair’s on-time performance is almost 10 pp. better than the average of EMEA airlines.
February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ryanair | 88.5% | 93.0% | 94.2% | 93.6% | 92.8% | 92.4% |
EMEA Average | 73.9% | 85.7% | 85.6% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 82.8% |

Ryanair Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
From a global perspective, Ryanair ranks in the first quarter when it comes to flight punctuality. Moreover, and again except for February, Ryanair is one of EMEA’s most punctual airlines. Nonetheless, interesting to see that Aer Lingus achieved even better results from February to May. Therefore, and despite brilliant results, Ryanair ranks 2nd on a domestic level.
Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
---|---|---|---|
February | 2 | 36 | 80 |
March | 2 | 20 | 42 |
April | 2 | 16 | 36 |
May | 2 | 21 | 36 |
June | 1 | 11 | 30 |
Average ’21 | 4.5 | 20.8 | 44.8% |
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Ryanair Flight Cancellations
In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Ryanair’s flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Ryanair’s results in terms of flight cancellations are way above the average of EMEA airlines. Whereas the average for EMEA airlines resulted in 3.9% from February to June, Ryanair achieved a cancellation rate of 0.4%. Moreover, worth mentioning that the carrier could achieve its lowest flight cancellation rate in June — the month the airline tripled its number of flights to more than 30,000.
February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ryanair | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
EMEA Average | 6.8% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 3.9% |

Ryanair Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations
Compared to EMEA and global airlines, the airline achieved solid results.
Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
---|---|---|---|
February | 1 | 54 | 97 |
March | 2 | 39 | 61 |
April | 2 | 48 | 85 |
May | 2 | 35 | 55 |
June | 1 | 28 | 45 |
Average ’21 | 1.6 | 40.8 | 68.6 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 280 airlines are included in each month’s analysis.
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