Ryanair vows to retake lost crown as Europe's largest airline next year

DUBLIN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ryanair has vowed to retake the lost crown as Europe's largest airline in the next year, reported local media on Wednesday.

The vow was made by the Ireland-headquartered company following the latest report that Germany's Lufthansa has replaced Ryanair to become the largest airline in Europe by carrying a total of 130 million passengers in 2017.

The total number of passengers carried by Ryanair last year reportedly stood at 129 million, one million less than that of Lufthansa.

Commenting on the passenger numbers, Ryanair said in a statement that "This is expected given that Lufthansa is growing by acquisition whereas Ryanair continues to grow organically."

Lufthansa's takeover of Brussels Airlines at the end of 2016 and the collapse of Germany's second largest carrier Air Berlin in late 2017 have both contributed to its growth in passenger numbers whereas Ryanair has curbed its growth plans after a pilot rostering issue forced the airline to cancel nearly 20,000 flights last year.

"Next year, as we grow to 140m passengers, we expect to overtake Lufthansa again, unless they acquire some other airline to boost their figures," said Ryanair in the statement. Enditem