Ryanair, Wizz Air end 2025 with growing passenger numbers
Both low-cost carriers continued to grow their passenger numbers during the calendar year.
Ryanair and Wizz Air have published their passenger numbers for the month of December 2025, with both low-cost carriers, which have multiple air operator’s certificates (AOCs) across Europe, ending the year with growing passenger numbers.
On January 5, 2026, both Ryanair and Wizz Air unveiled their December 2025 traffic data. Ryanair only provided a brief update, informing stakeholders that during the month, it welcomed 14.5 million passengers, 7% more year-on-year (YoY). The average load factor was 92%, which was flat YoY.
Its rolling 12-month passenger numbers improved from 197.2 million to 206.5 million, an improvement of 5% YoY, with Ryanair’s cabins being, on average, 94% full.
When the low-cost carrier unveiled its H1 FY26 financial results on November 3, 2025, it said that Boeing has continued to deliver aircraft throughout the summer 2025 season and into October, enabling the group to carry extra passengers during the first six months of its fiscal year.
The extra deliveries had also allowed the airline to “selectively add capacity” between the October school holidays and the Christmas/New Year peak travel period. “[…] we are confident that the last [six] remaining [737 MAX 8-200s] (210 orderbook) will deliver well ahead of [summer 2026], facilitating 4% traffic growth to 215m [in FY27],” Ryanair outlined.
“This winter, we have allocated Ryanair’s scarce capacity to those regions and airports [that are] cutting aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth, such as Sweden, Slovakia, Italy, Albania, and Morocco, by switching flights and routes away from high-cost, uncompetitive markets like Germany, Austria, and regional Spain.”
According to planespotters.net, Ryanair welcomed 34 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft in 2025, including one each in December 2025 and November 2025. In total, the low-cost carrier now has 206 737 MAX 8-200s, including its first UK-registered aircraft of the type, G-RYMA, which Boeing delivered on December 11, 2025. The aircraft arrived at London Stansted Airport (STN) on December 12.
Ryanair is scheduled to publish its Q3 FY26 results on January 26.
Rytis Beresnevicius
Meanwhile, Wizz Air’s December 2025 passenger traffic climbed 15.5% YoY to 5.8 million passengers, with the carrier’s capacity, measured in total seats, growing by 16.3% YoY to 6.8 million.
However, the average load factor dropped by 0.6% YoY to 85.9% during the month.
The rolling 12-month capacity rose by 9.1% YoY to 75.3 million seats, and with Wizz Air carrying 68.5 million passengers, or 9.4% more than at the end of December 2024, the airline’s load factor improved by 0.3% to 91%.
Wizz Air highlighted that in addition to its improving passenger numbers, it unveiled “a range of important strategic developments during the month, which further strengthen its product-enhancing and regional densification strategies.”
This includes four bases that now have or will have 15 Airbus A320neo family aircraft, namely London Luton Airport (LTN), Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), Tirana International Airport (TIA), and Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW), and the opening of a two-aircraft base at Warsaw Modlin Airport (WMI).
At the end of March, it will also base one A320neo at Târgu Mureș International Airport (TGM), where it currently operates the airport’s sole scheduled route to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD). The TGM base was announced on December 8.
Furthermore, on December 4, it unveiled a partnership with Kyte, opening Wizz Air’s third-party distribution platform to the corporate travel market. At the time, the low-cost carrier stated that Kyte, which is an Application Programming Interface (API) platform, “focused on delivering a cost-effective distribution channel for low-cost carriers to connect with the wider travel ecosystem, without relying on traditional global distribution systems.”
The airline’s latest outlook estimated that its full-year F26 capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), should be up 10% YoY, with seat capacity growing in the low teens. F26 load factors should be up 1% YoY, Wizz Air said.
Wizz Air will release its Q3 F26 results on January 29, three days after Ryanair’s scheduled publication of its quarterly results.
Rytis Beresnevicius
Comments ()