Ryanair traffic grows 9% in September to 17.4 million

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair flew 9% more passengers in September than in the same month last year, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers said on Tuesday.

The Irish airline said it flew 17.4 million passengers last month, up from 15.9 million a year earlier and 14.1 million in September 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Flights were on average 94% full in September, unchanged on a year earlier.

Ryanair expects traffic in its fiscal year to March 2024 to grow by 9% to a record 183.5 million passengers.

It set a string of all-time monthly traffic records over the busy summer months and Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said last week that current booking levels were around 4%-5% higher than last year.

However, it lowered that forecast in July from 185 million due to delays in Boeing plane deliveries and air traffic control strikes.

The low-cost carrier also warned last week that it may have to cut the forecast again if it faces any more delivery delays.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sharon Singleton)