Covid travel restrictions over the festive period saw Ryanair and Wizz Air passenger carryings plummet in December.
Ryanair was only able to operate 22% of its normal December schedule.
The Irish budget airline group’s carryings were down 83% to 1.9 million against 11.2 million flown in the same month in 2019.
Ryanair’s load factor was 73% as Covid-19 continued to impact traffic.
Wizz Air December passenger carryings slump by 80% year-on-year.
The eastern and central European low cost carrier flew just 665,722 people in the month against more than 3.3 million at the same time in December 2019.
The load factor fell by 33.3 percentage points to 56.1% as capacity was cut by 68% to 1.18 million seats.
Wizz Air announced six new routes from bases at Doncaster Sheffield, Gatwick and Luton to destinations in Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece in the month.