Ryanair has soared ahead of its industry competitors this month as it becomes the biggest airline in the world outside of the US, new statistics have shown.
Figures from global travel data provider OAG show Ryanair is set to provide nearly 87,000 flights this month, which puts it fifth on the global list.
This means Ryanair will provide more than double the number of flights this month compared with June last year when the airline had 37,971 flights.
Travel industry expert Eoghan Corry said Ryanair has a common tactic when it comes to dealing with disasters - while everybody else pulls back they "go forward".
He added: "There's a short-term effect, the airlines who furloughed their staff and their aircraft have huge difficulties filling their schedules now. Because Ryanair kept their pilots and their cabin crew in a job, they didn't have to hire. They haven't cancelled a single flight since all of this.
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"They did it for 9/11, when 9/11 happened they grew. During the global financial recession, they doubled their passenger numbers between 2008 and 2013. They've attacked the market for market share. They've done a difficult thing, they've grown their market share and the fare came down.
"They were actually losing money as they grew their market share, they prioritised passenger numbers over profit. The profit comes in big if that strategy bears out." Mr Corry pointed out that Ryanair had a loss of €355million last year but "that is the price in chasing the market share".
He added: "It delivers big-time when it comes round, if it comes round right for you." Mr Corry said Ryanair's performance doesn't surprise him but he does acknowledge they will be overtaken again by Chinese airlines who have recently been hit by lockdowns.
Ryanair was able to leapfrog two Chinese airlines due to lockdowns imposed in China due to Covid. In June 2021, the Chinese airlines - China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines - easily beat Ryanair for the number of flights they put on but they have fallen behind this month with them both only offering 60,337 and 54,186 flights respectively.
Ryanair also beat a number of other airlines such as EasyJet, IndiGo, Turkish Airlines and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, who all made the top 20.
"Ryanair are ahead in the European charts, they've been sneaking slightly ahead of Lufthansa group and now they are well ahead since Covid. The people who are going to knock them down in the world charts are the Chinese.
According to OAG data, global flight capacity is expected to hit 423.3 million, just 14% behind the pre-pandemic level in June 2019.
