Low-cost carriers between them operate around 40 routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport have enjoyed a positive start to the summer season. Tony McDonough reports

Ryanair and Wizz Air, who between them operate around 40 routes out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) are both reporting soaring passenger number for April.

Dublin-based Ryanair, which operates more than 30 routes from Liverpool, said traffic for the month was up 10% to 13.5m passengers while Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air, which will soon launch its eighth LJLA route, saw a rise of 19% to 3.28m passengers.

In July Wizz will begin flying from Liverpool to the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Varna adding to its existing services to Warsaw, Gdansk, Katowice, Budapest, Bucharest, Cluj and Iasi.

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Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is popular with holidaymakers, is a major tourist destination and often described as the area’s most interesting and cosmopolitan town.

Wizz saw its seat capacity rise 17.6% to 3.57m after bringing extra aircraft into its fleet, and load factor, which is the percentage of seats filled, was up 91.9% compared to 90.9% in April last year.

Ryanair said it operated more than 75,000 flights in April with a load factor of 96%. Its rolling annual passenger traffic figure was 142.3m, up 9% year-on-year.