Low-cost airline Ryanair has revealed a dramatic fall in the number of passenger carryings for the month of April, having flown just 40,000 passengers last month, down from 13.5 million year-on-year.

The total number of passengers who boarded flights dropped by 99.6 per cent. In April, the airline ran 600 flights against the usual schedule of 75,501, which included shipping medical supplies and repatriation flights.

Following this, the airline has warned that flights could also be minimal in May and June due to ongoing government travel restrictions.

The airline said: “Due to multiple EU government flight bans and restrictions, Ryanair expects to carry minimal traffic during the months of May and June as well.”

While some return to flight services are expected in the second (July-Sept) quarter, Ryanair has said it expects to carry no more than 50 per cent of its original traffic target of 44.6m in Q2. For the full year ended March 2021, the airline now expects to carry less than 100m passengers, more than 35 per cent below its original 154m target.

In the company’s latest Covid-19 market update released last Friday, Ryanair said that it believes it will take some time for passenger volumes to return when scheduled flights resume in Europe in July.

It believes consumer confidence will be impacted by public health restrictions, such as temperature checks at airports and face coverings for passengers and staff onboard aircraft.

Ryanair has said that it expects traffic on reduced flight schedules will be stimulated by significant price discounting. These lower fares will require “aggressive airport price incentives to encourage passengers to travel”.

Ryanair continues to call on EU Governments to cut passenger taxes, airport taxes, and departure taxes on an industry-wide basis as a better alternative to selective State Aid “doping” for flag carriers.

Ryanair announced 3,000 job cuts on Friday (1 May) and that it now expects the recovery of passenger demand and pricing (to 2019 levels) to take at least two years, until the summer of 2022 at the earliest, as a direct result of the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis and the grounding of all flights from mid-March.

Visit ryanair.com for more information.