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Ryanair Holdings PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Monday both reported higher passenger traffic, with Wizz Air being rewarded for a big increase in capacity ahead of the year-end holidays as the budget carrier prepares for the summer 2026 season. Dublin-based Ryanair said passenger numbers climbed 6.6% to 14.5 million in December from 13.6 million a year before, while load factor remained steady at 92%. It said it operated over 82,000 flights in December. On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger numbers for Ryanair were up 4.7% to 206.5 million from 197.2 million. The load factor was unchanged at 94%. Wizz Air carried 5.8 million passengers in December, up 15.5% from 5.1 million a year ago. Seat capacity was increased by 16.3% to 6.7 million from 5.9 million, resulting in load factor slipping to 85.9% from 86.5%. On a 12-month rolling basis, Wizz carried 68.6 million passengers, up 9.4% from 62.7 million, while the load factor rose to 91.0% from 90.7%. Budapest-based Wizz said it pursued its ‘network densification strategy’ in December, adding a 15th aircraft to the number based at London Luton, Rome Fiumicino, Tirana, and Warsaw-Chopin airports. It also opened reopened its base at Targu Mures in Romania and opened a new base at Warsaw-Modlin airport. Wizz provides a monthly report of its CO2 emissions. It said these increased by 10% on year in December due to the additional flights, though CO2 emissions per revenue-passenger-kilometre was down 2.5%. Ryanair shares were down marginally, by under 0.1%, at €29.62 in Frankfurt early Monday. Wizz Air shares were up 0.5% to 1,311.00 pence in London. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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