Ryanair: Seat Counts and Miles

Start with the reported measure

Ryanair’s 2010 report gives a booked passenger load factor of approximately 82.2% for that fiscal year.

A percentage is useful only when the counted objects and its period are explicit. Here the next step is to read the glossary beside the result.

Sources for this section: [1]

Two records, one seat-count definition

The older glossary defines booked load factor using seats sold divided by total seat capacity on flown sectors. Available seat miles instead combine seats and miles.

The 2025 filing retains the seats-sold definition and reports 94% for FY25. Its operating table is explicitly unaudited.

The comparison establishes continuity in that named definition, not a complete explanation of the change between the two reported percentages. It also warns against silently inserting distance into a ratio whose definition counts seats.

Sources for this section: [1] · [2]

Original exercise: two sectors with different lengths

Use fictional scheduled sectors A and B. A has 200 available seats, 160 sold, and a length of 100 miles. B has 100 available seats, 50 sold, and a length of 1,000 miles. Treat each row as one completed sector; all distances and seat counts are supplied assumptions, not Ryanair data.

Calculate the combined seat-count fill and a separate distance-weighted sold-seat ratio. For this exercise, multiply each sector’s available seats by its miles; multiply sold seats by miles for the weighted numerator. Explain why taking the ordinary mean of the two route percentages gives neither combined result.

Sources for this section: [1]

Worked answer and an interpretation test

There are 210 sold seats and 300 available seats, so the seat-count ratio is 210 / 300 = 70%. Available seat-miles are 200 × 100 + 100 × 1,000 = 120,000. Sold-seat-miles are 160 × 100 + 50 × 1,000 = 66,000. Their ratio is 55%.

The route fills are 80% and 50%; their ordinary mean is 65%. It gives both routes equal weight despite their different capacities. The 70% result weights seats; the 55% result weights seats and distance. The longer sector has lower fill, so distance reduces the combined ratio here. No fare or cost is supplied, so none of these calculations yields profit. A useful caption must name the weighting, not merely say “load factor”.

Sources for this section: [1]