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Ryanair says 63,000 passengers had flights cancelled last week

Irish airline says more than 350 of its flights were cancelled due to the air traffic control issue

Ryanair says it flew a record 11% more passengers in August than in the same month last year. Photograph: stock

Mon Sep 4 2023 - 10:06

Ryanair has revealed that about 63,000 of its passengers saw their flights cancelled during last week’s air traffic control failure, which caused widespread disruption across the industry and left thousands of passengers stranded overseas.

In its August traffic update, the Irish carrier said more than 350 of its flights were cancelled on August 28th and August 29th due to the air traffic control (ATC) issue.

More than a quarter of all flights to and from UK airports were cancelled on August 28th as National Air Traffic Services (Nats) were unable to process flight plans automatically.

The knock-on effect continued for two more days and is said to have wrecked the travel plans of about 250,000 people.

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Ryanair said the ATC failure “has still not been explained”.

[ ‘Typical Ryanair’ is a well-worn phrase, but why do we take so little pride in the Irish airline? ]

The airline said it flew 11 per cent more passengers in August than in the same month last year, which was a record. It recorded its previous record, 18.7 million passengers, in July.

It flew 18.9 million passengers in August, up from 16.9 million a year earlier and up from 14.9 million in August 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The airline said its load factor – how many seats it fills – was unchanged at 96 per cent in August.

The airline expects traffic in the financial year to March 2024 to grow by 9 per cent to about 183.5 million passengers. – PA

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