Ryanair enjoyed a strong July as BA’s traffic tailed off.

Airport news for Travel,Flights on 05/08/2010.

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Ryanair and British Airways have released their traffic figures for July. Rynair carried 13 per cent more passengers in July this year, compared to the same period in 2009. British Airways, despite finally enjoying a month not interrupted by industrial action, saw its passenger numbers fall slightly. Compared to last year, 2.3 per cent fewer people traveled with BA this July.

In fact, July was a record month for Ryanair. The Irish airline sold 7.8 million seats, besting its previous monthly record of 6.8 million seats, which was set back in August last year. BA saw year-on-year seat sales drop from 3.21 million July last year, to 3.19 million this year. The drop came despite July being the first in several months not to see a strike by crew at British Airways.

Ryanair will no doubt be overjoyed at the recovery in its performance. The second quarter of the year was a tough one. The airline lost some 50 million euros when the volcanic ash cloud forced it to cancel nearly 10,000 flights. Thanks to last month’s recovery, however, Ryanair has ended up carrying 70 million passengers in the 12 months to the end of July.

British Airways is expecting traffic to rise over the coming months. Group treasurer George Stinnes said the airline would likely see volume and capacity increase over the winter but yield would probably slow. BA recently became the first British airline to take delivery of Boeing’s new high-tech 777-300ER.

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