After analyzing Ryanair’s competitors (Vueling, easyJet), we thought it was time to look at Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier. Therefore, we checked the latest performance figures and analyzed Ryanair’s operational performance. As a result, we provide you with details about Ryanair’s flight volume, conduct a comparison to pre-COVID, and take a closer look at punctuality and reliability in August. If you want to discover Ryanair’s performance from February to June first — here’s the link you need.
The shown values are based on internal data sources. If you want to get access to airline performance figures in real-time, click here.
Ryanair — August Performance Summary
- With more than 70,000 flights, Ryanair remains (by far) Europe’s biggest airline.
- Despite enormous growth in July, Ryanair added another 15% to its flight volume.
- Ryanair is one of the rare European airlines that is almost back to pre-COVID volume in terms of flights.
- At the same time, Ryanair delivered a stable on-time performance and a very strong schedule reliability in August.
Ryanair — Flight Volume
For the first time since Corona, Ryanair’s flight volume jumped above the 70,000 level. Therefore, Ryanair continued to rank first in terms of flight volume in Europe. Compared to easyJet, as the second-largest low-cost carrier, Ryanair operated almost twice the amount of flights. Moreover, Ryanair increased its flight volume by another 15% compared to the previous month. In July, Ryanair added almost 60% to its schedule compared to June.
Even more impressive: When comparing August’s flight volume to the monthly average in 2021, Ryanair is up 334%. As a result, Ryanair grew its flight volume from a low in February (3,300 flights) by more than 2,000% to an August high of 70,500.
Ryanair — Pre-COVID Comparison
The below figures a probably the most interesting of this month’s report. Unlike most other European airlines, Ryanair has almost reached its pre-COVID level in flight volume. When comparing August 2021 to 2019 figures, the gap is only 6,000 flights. Therefore, Ryanair operated 92% of its pre-COVID volume.
As mentioned, this result is much better than for many other carriers, such as Lufthansa, easyJet, or Air France. However, low-cost carriers seem to deliver a better job here. Vueling, for example, also operated more than 80% of its pre-COVID volume in August.
Ryanair — Punctuality and Reliabiltiy
Punctuality
In terms of punctuality, Ryanair delivered robust operations. As a result, only 7.3% of its flights did not arrive on time. Compared to the annual average, Ryanair’s on-time performance was slightly better in August (1.2pp). Moreover, after a slight dip in July (86.8% OTP), Ryanair managed to return to >90% on-time performance.
Punctuality counts the number of flights that arrive +15/-15 minutes to their scheduled arrival time and relates that to the overall number of performed flights.
Reliability
Concerning reliability, Ryanair delivered its best performance of the year so far. Out of 70,500 flights, the Irish airline had to cancel only 15. Accordingly, the flight schedule reliability is almost 100%. Moreover, compared to the already robust annual average (99.5%), August reflects an extraordinary strong month.
Reliability counts the number of flights that actually have been operated and relates to the overall number of scheduled flights. Subsequently, the gap to 100% is flights that have been canceled.
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