Less than 1.9 million passengers travelled with Ryanair in December, as the impact of Covid-19 on airlines continued over the Christmas period.
The budget airline said that its passenger numbers fell by 83 per cent last month, compared with the year before, in another major blow to the airline industry.
In December 2019, the airline carried 11.2 million travellers, it said in a message to investors. During the whole of 2020, Ryanair carried 52.1 million passengers, a third of its 2019 levels.
Meanwhile, Hungarian-owned airline Wizz Air announced that the number of passengers it carried in December had dropped 80 per cent to 665,722.
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many problems for airlines in the past 10 months with many forced to ground many planes, then to operate at significantly reduced capacity.
Passengers coming to the UK must self-isolate for 10 days, or self-isolate for five days and show a negative Covid-19 test. Meanwhile, passengers flying from the UK are currently heavily restricted in their travel, due to a new strain of Covid-19 which is spreading in the country.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Wizz Air confirmed last month that it was adding six new routes to Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece from Doncaster Sheffield, Gatwick and Luton airports.
Ryanair also ordered 75 new Boeing 737 Max planes, as the troubled aircraft, which was involved in two fatal crashes, prepares to return to service in Europe.
