Ryanair Holdings PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Tuesday both reported strong traffic results for the key summer travel month of August.

Dublin-based Ryanair, the larger of the two European budget airlines, said it carried 20.5 million passengers last month, up 8.5% from 18.9 million a year before. It said it operated 111,800 flights during August with a load factor of 96%, unchanged from a year before.

On a rolling 12-month basis, Ryanair carried 192.0 million passengers, up 8.2% from 177.4 million a year before. Load factor was 94% in both 12-month periods.

Budapest-based Wizz Air said its passenger total of 6.2 million in August was a new record. It was up 1.0% from 6.1 million a year before, despite a 0.4% reduction in capacity. Wizz said the lower capacity was due to groundings related to Pratt & Whitney GTF engine issues.

The higher number of passengers on reduced capacity meant that load factor improved to 95.4% last month from 94.1% a year before.

On a rolling 12-month basis, Wizz carried 62.1 million passengers, up 9.6% from 56.6 million a year before, but load factor slipped to 90.1% from 90.4%.

During August, Wizz launched its new ’all you can fly’ annual membership scheme, which it said sold out with 48 hours.

Ryanair shares were down 1.9% to €15.51 in Frankfurt early Tuesday. Wizz Air shares were up 0.9% to 1,300.00 pence in London.

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