Ryanair passenger numbers hit new all-time high in August

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair in August flew a record number of passengers for the fourth month in a row as it continued to consolidate its position as Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers.

The Irish low-cost carrier, which unlike many airlines made a point of keeping its pilots and crew up-to-date with their flying hours during the pandemic, flew 16.9 million passengers in August compared to a pre-COVID peak of 14.9 million in August 2019.

Ryanair last week flew an average of over 3,000 flights a day, almost double the 1,600 flights of its next largest rival easyJet, according to European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol.

The average proportion of empty seats per flight were 4%, for the second month in a row compared to 3% in August 2019.

(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Sandra Maler)