“The reports of my death were much exaggerated,” joked the writer Mark Twain after rumors of the American’s demise in 1897 spread.
The low-cost airline had to cope with a heavy month and canceled the flights of some 700,000 passengers, before rumors of riots by pilots and cabin crew were heard. Some analysts have begun to question O’Leary’s governing ability.
But now, 99% of the original cancellations (and 90% of the second wave) have been corrected and a truce with the staff is evidently near. In addition, new numbers from IATA, the International Airline Association, have confirmed that the Irish airline is now the fifth largest in the world and the largest in Europe.
With the aggressive growth that the airline had to suspend to resume its flight program, Ryanair carried 112 million passengers in 2016, behind Southwest Airlines (151.8 million), USA (144.2 million), Delta (143.3 m) and South China (114.5 m).
In short, Ryanair is a growing aviation giant. In Europe, Lufthansa, carrying 110 million passengers in 2016, is its main competitor, followed by IAG (BA, Aer Lingus, and Iberia) 101 million, Air France-KLM and easyJet 93 million to 75 million.
As IATA continued to emphasize the growth of the global airline market, with a rise in passenger numbers of 7% to 3.8 billion in 2015, it also noted the continued increase in low-cost airlines.
New Model Airlines, according to the association, accounted for 28.3% of all passenger travel in 2016, up from 27.1% in 2015. This southwest, an economic airline in the United States, is the largest in the world, stresses the importance of low-cost flights for the industry.
Who Flies The Most?
In which part of the world is it becoming more popular? The Asia-Pacific region was the largest with 1.3 billion passengers and the fastest growth, with an increase of 11.3% in 2015. However, US citizens are the most frequent travelers, with approximately 810 million US passengers traveling on US passports, representing 21% of all passengers, even though the US population accounts for only 4% of the world’s population.
The Most Popular Flight Route in the World
The most popular route in the world (which we already know, by the way) is the unsurpassed Jeju – Seoul Gimpo connection, which saw 11.6 million passengers fly in 2016, 4.6% more than in 2015. It is more than people traveling in Belgium fly between the two airports
Jeju-Seoul Gimpo (11.6 million, 4.6% more than in 2015)
Sapporo-Tokyo Haneda (7.7 million, 1.2% less than in 2015)
Haneda Fukuoka-Tokyo (7.3 million, 4% since 2015)
Melbourne-Tullamarine-Sydney (7.3 million, 4.6% less than in 2015)
Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City (6.4 million, 16.2% more than in 2015)
The Most Active International Route in the World?
Once again, the five are in the Asia-Pacific region, and the main route flies between Hong Kong and the capital of Taiwan.
Hong Kong-Taipei (5.2 million, 2.1% more than in 2015)
Jakarta-Singapore (3.4 million, up 0.9% since 2015)
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Hong Kong (3 million, a decrease of 3.14% since 2015)
Kuala Lumpur Singapore (2.8 million, 3.3% more than in 2015)
Hong Kong-Seoul (2.8 million, 15% less than in 2015)
