DUBLIN, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Over 1,000 Ryanair flights were cancelled in July, affecting nearly 200,000 customers, said the Ireland-headquartered airline on Thursday.
Repeated ATC (Air Traffic Control) staff shortages in Britain, Germany and France, adverse weather,and pilot and cabin crew strikes were the main reasons causing the flight cancellations, said Ryanair's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs.
Ryanair, together with other European airlines, have called for urgent action by the European Union Commission and relevant governments in Europe to address the ATC staff shortage problems which are disturbing the travel plans of millions of Europe's consumers this summer, he said.
Despite the impact of the flight cancellations, Ryanair stilled achieved a 4 percent year-on-year growth by flying 13.1 million customers in July thanks to its successful lower-fare strategy, said Kenny Jacobs.
Load factor (flight occupancy rate) for July also remained strong at 97 percent, the same level as a year ago, he said, adding that a total of 133.5 million passengers were handled by Ryanair in the 12 months to July.
Ryanair is the largest budget airline in Europe. Last year the company handled a total of 129 million passengers, ranking in the second place in Europe after Germany's airline Lufthansa in terms of its annual traffic.
