Ryanair Eyes 100 Million Passengers as European Aviation Breaks Records

European low-cost carriers post record passenger numbers and profits as demand for affordable air travel continues to surge.

Sky High: European Budget Airlines Defy Expectations

Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, announced in early 2026 that it had carried 206 million passengers in the 2024-25 financial year and projected it would approach the landmark of 250 million passengers within two years — a scale of operation that would make it one of the largest airlines in the world by any measure. The announcement underlined the extraordinary resilience and growth capacity of European low-cost aviation, which has continued to expand its market share despite fuel cost volatility, airport capacity constraints, and increasingly contested EU environmental regulations targeting aviation's carbon footprint.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, in his customarily combative style, used the announcement to attack what he described as 'green taxation masquerading as climate policy' — specifically the EU's Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate, which requires airlines to blend increasing percentages of SAF into their fuel supply. O'Leary argued that current SAF production volumes are grossly insufficient to meet the mandate's requirements, that SAF costs three to five times as much as conventional jet fuel, and that the compliance cost would inevitably be passed on to consumers as higher ticket prices. Environmental groups counter that aviation must bear its full carbon cost and that the SAF mandate creates the incentives needed to scale up production.

EasyJet, Wizz Air, and Vueling have all reported similarly strong performance, with the combination of robust European travel demand, the gradual retirement of older, less fuel-efficient aircraft, and disciplined capacity management allowing the sector to generate strong profitability despite elevated operating costs. The European aviation sector as a whole is expected to break pre-pandemic passenger volume records in 2026 for the first time.