Ryanair Pulls Further Ahead of Pack Even After Pilot Debacle
- Carrier beat rivals with 12 million extra passengers in 2017
- Full-year growth rates were fastest at Wizz Air, Norwegian
Ryanair Holdings Plc strengthened its dominance of Europe’s discount-airline market in 2017 by adding more customers than any of its rivals, even as a scheduling foul-up contributed to its smallest gain in passenger numbers in three years.
The company filled 12 million more seats in 2017 than a year earlier, while second-ranked EasyJet Plc said Friday that it flew 7.2 million more passengers in the period.
No-frills airlines continued to gain market share across Europe last year, with the top six adding a combined 44 million passengers. Ryanair accounted for almost 30 percent of that total, despite a botched reworking of pilot leave that led to cancellations of thousands of flights and forced the company to accept unionization after crews gained bargaining power. The 10 percent advance in passenger numbers marked Ryanair’s weakest growth rate since 2014.