The Irish airline Ryanair returned to profit in its staggered annual exercise that ended at the end of March, with a positive result of 1,400 million euros, driven by “the strong recovery in traffic,” it announced on Monday.
Ryanair, which had registered net losses of 355 million euros a year earlier -but already much reduced at the time with the lifting of post-Covid restrictions- explains in a press release that it has also benefited from higher prices, despite the fact that operating costs rose 75%.
“We have seen a very strong recovery in post-Covid traffic”, and this “is now between 13 and 14% higher than our pre-Covid volumes, but profitability is still slightly lower”, summarized the head of Ryanair, Michael O. ‘Leary.
In its staggered 2022/23 annual fiscal year, Ryanair saw its revenue more than double, to €10.8bn, and its traffic increase by 74%, to almost 170m passengers. Their prices are up 10% from pre-Covid levels. Ryanair had returned to profit in its first three quarters, but the company said it remained in the red only in the fourth quarter (loss of 154 million euros).
More than 3,000 daily trips this summer
Ryanair has repeatedly highlighted the fact that it has laid off fewer workers than its competitors during the pandemic, which has ground air traffic to a standstill for months; instead, he had negotiated pay cuts with the unions. Wages “have been reinstated 28 months in advance … for almost all crews,” Ryanair said on Monday. Its competitor Easyjet, penalized last year for staff shortages, has yet to return to the green.
“Ryanair’s market share has increased considerably in most EU markets”, especially in Italy, Poland and Ireland, argued Michael O’Leary on Monday. The company intends to launch this summer the largest flight program in its history, with more than 3,000 daily trips, and expects to increase the number of its passengers by 10% this year, to 185 million.
But Ryanair, which expects “a modest increase in profits” this year, says its bottom line could suffer from a “modest increase” in its costs and “recent delays in Boeing deliveries.” The company, which expects to carry up to 300 million passengers a year by 2034, nevertheless placed a large firm order in early May for 150 medium-haul 737 MAXs, Boeing’s flagship aircraft, and offered an option for an additional 150 aircraft. .
Source: BFM TV
