Ryanair flew 15.7m passengers in October, a record high for the month, after experiencing "strong" school mid-term bookings.

The total represented a 38% uplift from last October when the Irish airline flew 11.4m people despite lingering public health restrictions across the continent.

Europe's largest passenger airline operated a total of 88,560 flights last month at an average load factor of 94%, again an improvement from the 84% average capacity posted a year earlier.

Over the past 12 months, the carrier has flown 157.4m guests, or nearly triple the amount of people that flew with the airline in the previous heavily Covid-affected 12 months, at a 91% load factor (+12% year-on-year).

Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair, told Reuters last month that bookings for the mid-term and Christmas holidays were ahead of pre-Covid levels.

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The company has said it expects to fly 166.5m passengers in the year to the end of March, which would be significantly ahead of its previous record of 149m. The October passenger total compares to 15.9m in September and 16.9 in August.

Ryanair announced last month that it would add 2,000 jobs in Ireland by the end of the decade as it plans to grow passenger numbers by 10m.

The company plans to investment €20bn in aircraft, €50m in a Santry training centre, and €8m in an engineering excellence centre by 2030.

Photo: Michael O'Leary in Brussels last month. (Pic: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)