Ryanair and Easyjet both increased passenger numbers last month despite services being hit by a succession of air traffic control strikes.
During June, Ryanair’s traffic rose by 11 per cent to 10.6 million compared to the same month in 2015 while load factors for the month rose by 1 percentage point to 94 per cent.
The Irish carrier also saw its passenger numbers rise by 16 per cent to 109.6 million for the last 12 months.
Despite the rise in passengers, the airline continued its calls for action to be taken to stop ATC strikes across Europe – the latest strike in France this week caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled on Tuesday.
Ryanair's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: “These record monthly numbers and load factors were delivered, at lower fares, despite the repeated disruptions caused by unacceptable French ATC strikes, and we are again calling on the European Commission to urgently take action to reduce the impact of these ATC strikes on Europe's citizens and the single market.”
Meanwhile, Easyjet’s traffic in June was up by 5.8 per cent to 6.9 million with load factor rising by 1.4 points to 94.1 per cent.
This was despite the Luton-based airline having to cancel 852 flights in the month compared to 487 cancellations in June 2015.
Easyjet also saw its passenger numbers rise by 7.1 per cent for the last 12 months to a total of 71.9 million.