Ryanair shrugged off enforced flight cancellations due to its pilot holiday rota mess up by reporting an 8% hike in passenger carryings in October.
Europe’s largest budget airline flew 11.8 million passengers last month, up from 10.9 million in October 2016.
The passenger load factor grew by one percentage point year-on-year to 96%.
The October performance gave the airline a 12% rise in annual carryings to 128.2 million.
Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: “Ryanair’s October traffic grew by 8% to 11.8 million customers, while our load factor jumped 1% to 96%, on the back of lower fares.
“These figures include the flight cancellations announced in September.
“Ryanair customers can look forward to even lower fares when they make advance bookings for winter or summer.”