Ryanair launches a million seats for £5

IATA published its 2008 traffic figures, which show Ryanair overtaking Lufthansa in terms of passenger numbers. This year Ryanair expects to grow from 58m to over 67m passengers. To celebrate, Ryanair has released 1 million £5 seats for travel in September and October.

These seat sale fares are available on over 500 of Ryanair’s European routes but must be booked on ryanair.com before midnight (24:00hrs) Thursday (23 July).

TOP INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES (IATA)

Airline, passengers carried

1. Ryanair 57.6m
2. Lufthansa 42.2m
3. Easyjet 35.4m
4. Air France 32.5m
5. British Airways 29.1m

These £5 tickets include all taxes and charges so passengers who chose to avoid discretionary fees by paying with Visa Electron, travel only with carry-on luggage only and forego priority boarding can fly for the advertised £5 fare.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair today welcomes official confirmation by I ATA that we are the world’s favourite airline. We are celebrating by releasing 1 million £520 seats for travel on over 500 European destinations during September and October. These seats can be booked until 24:00hrs Thursday (23 July) and are sure to be snapped up fast so those looking for Europe’s guaranteed lowest airfares in September and October should book them on ryanair.com today, before they sell out.”