Ryanair has revealed it will carry over 11 million customers this Christmas, breaking last year’s record traffic by ten per cent.

December 20th was the airline’s busiest day of the festive season, with an estimated 500,000 customers travelling on more than 2,500 flights.

The last flight on Christmas Eve landed at 20:55, with no flights on Christmas Day (the only day in the calendar when Ryanair does not fly), before services resume on December 26th.

Ryanair confirmed that its most popular ‘flying home for Christmas’ routes include Portugal, Morocco, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Poland, while record numbers will jet off to Spain and Italy for Christmas in the sun, with Austria, Italy and Switzerland ski routes also booking fast for both Christmas and New Year.

Ryanair spokesperson, Alejandra Ruiz, said: “We are pleased to fly more than 11 million people this Christmas season, both home to their families and friends, and on holidays to the winter sun and ski hotspots across Europe.”

Ryanair somewhat generously counts the period from December 11th until January 8th as the ‘festive season’.