Ryanair load factor dips to 89 per cent after some travel agents halt sales

Ryanair (RYA.I) flights were emptier in January than the same month a year ago after a number of online travel agents (OTAs) stopped selling its flights in early December, though the budget giant still managed to grow its traffic by 3 per cent year-on-year.

Ryanair had for years accused the websites of adding illegitimate extra charges and launched a series of court cases against them, but appeared to be taken by surprise when they stopped selling the airline’s tickets.

Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers has said the move will ultimately be a positive one, stopping consumers from being overcharged and forcing the websites that do not send customers through to Ryanair’s own booking system to agree to do so.

However it said the sudden halt would damage bookings and fares in the “very short term”. The airline trimmed its profit forecast for the year to end March as a result this week.

Ryanair said on Friday the average number of empty seats per flight in January, one of its quieter months of the year, increased to 11 per cent from 9 per cent in the same month last year, giving it a so-called load factor of 89 per cent.

It flew 12.2 million passengers last month compared to 11.8 million in January 2023.

Ryanair’s chief financial officer told Reuters on Monday that the impact on bookings was already beginning to fizzle out.

The Irish carrier has also said it has received approaches from some of the bigger OTAs since they stopped selling seats seeking to partner directly and has reached agreement with two of them, including Kiwi.com.

OTAs made up around 10-15 per cent of bookings, the airline has said.