Ryanair on the tail of BA
RYANAIR is within a couple of full Boeing 737s a day of overtaking British Airways as the biggest UK-based carrier to Europe.
Latest monthly statistics from the two airlines - arch-enemies in the fight to transport travellers around the British Isles and the Continent - show BA carried 2.08m passengers on European and domestic flights in October, a fall of 2.4% from a year ago.
Just hours earlier, Ryanair had reported that it carried 2.07m passengers during the month, a rise of 50% year-on-year, albeit an increase flattered by its takeover of Buzz earlier this year.
Detailed figures show no-frills Ryanair was just 11,300 passengers shy of BA in the month - the equivalent of 360 a day, the number the Irish budget airline would normally carry on one return trip.
The figures confirm the boasts of chief executive Michael O'Leary, who has already steered his airline to greater profits and a larger market capitalisation than the UK flag carrier. This week he forecast Ryanair would overtake BA by Christmas.
The decline in BA passenger numbers - it has been cutting services in Europe in a desperate bid to turn its short haul routes into profitability - now puts it in the sights of easyJet, which is growing at around 20% a year and carrying just below two million passengers a month.
EasyJet is aiming for a growth spurt next spring when it attacks the German market with 11 new routes in and out of Berlin.
