Irish airline Ryanair returned to profit for its staggered first quarter thanks to the surge in traffic, and considers itself better equipped than its competitors to cope with the recovery in demand, having laid off fewer workers during the pandemic. The company
“low cost” posted yesterday for the three months ended late June a profit following tax of 170 million euros once morest a net loss of 273 million a year earlier. It saw traffic multiplied by more than five over the period, with 45.5 million passengers transported.
But the result is still significantly lower than the 243 million euros in net profit published for its first quarter of 2019/2020, i.e. before the pandemic, due in particular to lower ticket prices, according to a press release. “While traffic has recovered strongly”, even rebounding beyond its pre-pandemic levels, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February weighed on bookings and rates” during the Easter holidays, lamented the boss of the company, Michael O’Leary, quoted in the press release. The company specifies that it is “protected once morest the skyrocketing cost of fuel”, driven in particular by the war in Ukraine, because it has covered 80% of its kerosene purchases for the current financial year.
But the resumption of air transport “remains fragile” and if the vaccination rate once morest Covid, high in Europe, is a source of hope, “we cannot ignore the risk of new variants” next fall, warns the company , still scalded by the appearance of Omicron last November. Due to an accumulation of both health and geopolitical uncertainties, Ryanair believes that it is too early to make earnings forecasts for its full financial year. The action of the company was up 1.82% to 13.12 euros yesterday around noon on the Dublin Stock Exchange.
“The golden age of cheap air travel is over with oil prices and inflation skyrocketing”, but Ryanair’s fuel hedging policy “means they are better placed to maintain price competitiveness” in the face of the competition, said Allegra Dawes, analyst at Third Bridge.
Chaos
“The recovery of international travel remains fragile due to a global shortage of pilots and strikes” affecting many airlines, but “Ryanair is doing better than others (…) because it has not reduced its workforce significantly during the pandemic,” the analyst added. Ryanair had negotiated pay cuts with unions to limit layoffs during the health crisis, which grounded air traffic for months of confinement, before a very gradual recovery. Demand is picking up strongly this summer and Ryanair claims to have the necessary staff, where competitors and airport companies, which had massively laid off, are struggling to recruit to absorb the recovery in traffic, which has caused the chaos of recent months in many airports. in Europe and thousands of flight cancellations. Ryanair says it has reached agreements to raise wages with a majority of unions, which has not prevented a few strikes by its staff in recent weeks, particularly in Belgium and Spain – causing minor disruptions, assures the carrier .
The airline also plans to recruit 6,000 people across Europe in the coming years, hoping to see traffic on its lines rise to more than 225 million annual passengers by 2026, or 50% more than before the pandemic. . Michael O’Leary had also urged the British government on Friday to show “more common sense” on post-Brexit migration policy, judging that more visas for European workers would help ease the disruptions in the sector.
Olivier DEVOS/AFP
Irish airline Ryanair returned to profit for its staggered first quarter thanks to the surge in traffic, and considers itself better equipped than its competitors to cope with the recovery in demand, having laid off fewer workers during the pandemic. The “low cost” company yesterday posted a profit for the three months to the end of June following…
