Ryanair, pirmaujanti Europos žemų kainų oro linijų bendrovė, šią savaitę pristatė savo 2025 m. vasaros skrydžių tvarkaraštį iš Kauno, kuriame – net 26 įdomūs maršrutai, įskaitant visiškai naują kryptį į Peskarą (Italija), kurios pirmieji skrydžiai numatyti birželį.

Ši plėtra pabrėžia nuoseklų „Ryanair“ įsipareigojimą augti Kaune – čia bendrovė fiksuoja stiprius veiklos rezultatus ir augančią paklausą tiek poilsio, tiek verslo kelionių segmente.

Naujuoju maršrutu į Peskarą bus skrendama du kartus per savaitę, suteikiant dar daugiau pasirinkimo Lietuvos keliautojams bei svečiams – viskas už žemiausią kainą jų vasaros atostogoms. Visi maršrutai jau dabar pasiekiami rezervacijai svetainėje ryanair.com.

„Ryanair“ Centrinės ir Rytų Europos bei Baltijos šalių komunikacijos vadovė Alicja Wójcik-Gołębiowska sakė:

„Džiaugiamės galėdami pristatyti 2025 m. vasaros tvarkaraštį Kaune – čia siūlysime 26 maršrutus, tarp jų ir visiškai naują kryptį į Peskarą. Šis papildymas dar kartą parodo mūsų augimą Kaune – tai stabili ir strategiškai svarbi „Ryanair“ bazė Baltijos regione. Kaip pirmaujantis Europos oro vežėjas ir vienintelė Europos oro linijų bendrovė, per vienerius metus pervežusi daugiau nei 200 milijonų keleivių, didžiuojamės galėdami dar labiau plėsti savo tinklą ir pasiūlyti Lietuvos klientams dar daugiau pasirinkimo, patikimumo ir žemų kainų. Nekantraujame šią vasarą pasitikti dar daugiau keleivių iš Lietuvos mūsų skrydžiuose.“

„Ryanair“ 2025 m. vasaros tvarkaraštis iš Kauno:

• Iš viso – 26 maršrutai
• Naujas maršrutas – Peskara (2 skrydžiai per savaitę)
• Dar daugiau kelionių galimybių už neprilygstamas kainas

Simonas Bartkus, Lietuvos oro uostų vadovas:

Kauno oro uoste toliau vyksta keleivių terminalo plėtros darbai, kurie skirti nuosekliai gerinti keleivių patirtį šiame oro uoste, tuo pačiu džiaugiamės galėdami pranešti, kad vasaros sezono metu čia startuos visiškai naujas „Ryanair“ reguliarus maršrutas į Italijos miestą Peskarą. Iš viso Kauno oro uostas kartu su oro bendrovėmis vasaros aviacijos sezono metu keleiviams pasiūlys net 26 kryptis,  keleivių srautas šiame oro uoste pernai siekė 1,4 mln., tikimės, kad šis rodiklis šiais metas dar labiau augs. „Ryanair“ šią vasarą planuoja vykdyti iš viso beveik 50 reguliarių maršrutų visame Lietuvos oro uostų tinkle – tai vertiname kaip itin pozityvų pasiekimą ir tikimės dar didesnio maršrutų pasirinkimo augimo ateityje.

Pilnas „Ryanair“ 2025 m. vasaros tvarkaraštis – daugiau nei 2 000 maršrutų į 230+ krypčių – jau pasiekiamas rezervacijai svetainėje ryanair.com.

RYANAIR’S LOW FARE FLIGHTS NOW AVAILABLE TO KIWI CUSTOMERS

Following the announcement of their “Approved OTA” partnership in Jan last, Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Wed, 29^th May) announced that its low fare flights are now available to book as part of Kiwi bookings just in time for the peak Summer holiday season. For Kiwi customers who wish to book Ryanair flights/ancillaries, this exciting new partnership means;

• Customers benefit from Ryanair’s low fares combined with Kiwi’s virtual interlining service.
• Customers receive all flight-related communications directly from Ryanair, including T&Cs and important flight updates.
• Customers have direct access to their myRyanair account to manage their booking.
• Customers don’t have to complete Ryanair’s customer verification.

Over the past few months, Ryanair has signed “Approved OTA” distribution agreements with six large OTAs, including this partnership with Kiwi, demonstrating how OTAs can work transparently with Ryanair to benefit consumers.

Speaking from Prague, Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:

“We’re delighted to be in Prague with the Kiwi team today to launch a partnership with Ryanair flights now being available to Kiwi customers to book with full price transparency (no overcharges or hidden mark-ups) and direct access to their booking through their myRyanair account, which is great news for Kiwi customers.

With the peak summer season just around the corner, we look forward to seeing lots of happy Kiwi customers onboard our low fare Ryanair flights not only from our 4 Czech airports to 39 destinations, but right across Europe.”

Kiwi.com co-founder & CEO, Oliver Dlouhý, said:

“We couldn’t be more proud that the largest airline in Europe chose Kiwi.com as their first OTA partner for booking flights, recognising our investments in our product and customer experience. Our cooperation with Ryanair reflects our commitment to establishing relationships with airlines for the benefit of customers and our long-term business objectives.”

TRAFFIC GROWS 9%TO 184M DESPITE BOEING DELAYS
€700M SHARE BUYBACK ANNOUNCED

Ryanair Holdings plc today (20 May) reported full-year PAT growth of 34% to €1.92bn, as traffic grew 9% to 184m passengers (23% more than pre-Covid).  The Group’s industry leading cost base and increased revenues helped to offset a significantly higher fuel bill as hedged oil prices rose from $65bbl in FY23 to $89bbl in FY24.

	Mar. 2023	Mar. 2024	Change
Customers	168.6m	183.7m	+9%
Load Factor	93%	94%	+1pt
Revenue	€10.78bn	€13.44bn	+25%
Op. Costs	€9.20bn*	€11.38bn	+24%
PAT	€1.43bn*	€1.92bn	+34%

FY24 Highlights:

• Traffic grew 9% to 183.7m, despite Boeing delays.
• Rev. per pax up 15% (ave. fare +21% & ancil. rev. +3%).
• Fuel bill rose 32% (+€1.25bn) to €5.14bn.
• ESG ratings upgraded (MSCI ‘A’ & CDP ‘A-’) & strong 85% CSAT score achieved.
• 146x B737 “Gamechangers” in 584 aircraft fleet at Mar. 2024 due to Boeing delays.
• 5 new bases and over 200 new routes open for S.24.
• FY25 fuel over 70% hedged at just under $80bbl saving €450m.
• Maiden int. div. €0.175 paid in Feb.  Final div. of €0.178 (payable in Sept.).
• 300x B737-MAX-10 order underpins growth to 300m pax (FY34) subject to Boeing deliveries.

 

Ryanair’s Group CEO Michael O’Leary, said:

ENVIRONMENT:
“CDP recently awarded Ryanair an ‘A-’ climate rating (previously ‘B’), topping off a year of ESG upgrades incl. our industry leading MSCI ‘A’ rating (up from ‘BBB’), and retention of our Sustainalytics ranking as Europe’s No.1 airline for ESG.  Our new aircraft and increasing use of SAF has positioned Ryanair as one of the EU’s most environmentally efficient major airlines.  In FY24 we took delivery of 48x B737-8200 “Gamechangers” (4% more seats, 16% less fuel & CO2) and we retro-fitted winglets on over 25% of our B737NG fleet (target 409 by 2026), reducing fuel burn by 1.5% and noise by 6%.  Last year we expanded our SAF partnerships (incl. our first UK delivery from Shell) and we remain on track to achieve our ambitious 2030 goal of powering 12.5% of Ryanair flights with SAF (10% supply already secured).  In Apr. we extended our partnership with Trinity College Dublin’s Sustainable Aviation Research Centre (“TCD”) to 2030.  TCD’s valuable research facility supports the acceleration of SAF deployment across Europe.

In 2023 Europe suffered 67 days of ATC strikes, causing thousands of (avoidable) flight cancellations to/from Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK while France (in particular) uses minimum service laws to overprotect French local/domestic flights.  As we head into S.24, we again call on the EU Commission to deliver urgent reform of Europe’s inefficient ATC system, by protecting overflights (during national strikes) which would deliver important environmental improvements in EU air travel.  Regrettably, there has been zero action from the Commission on this environmental initiative.  We again call on  Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to defend the single market for air travel by protecting 100% of overflights during national ATC strikes, as is already the case in Greece, Italy and Spain.

GOVERNANCE:
The Board is pleased to welcome 2 new NEDs from 1 July, Ms. Jinane Laghrari Laabi (Morocco) and Ms. Amber Rudd (UK).  Jinane is a former partner with McKinsey & Company (Casablanca) covering Morocco, Africa & Middle East.  Amber is a former UK MP who held senior cabinet positions including Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.  To facilitate these appointments, Louise Phelan and Michael Cawley have confirmed that they will step down from the Board at the end of June having completed their 9 year tenure and we thank them sincerely for their leadership and service.  These new appointments, which align with our orderly succession plans, further enhance Ryanair’s Board diversity (geographic, gender and ethnic balance) with a 50:50 gender split following these latest changes. Our Chairman (Stan McCarthy) recently refreshed Board Committees to reflect these Board changes. 

During FY24, Ryanair’s EU ownership continued to increase and was just over 48% at year-end (up from 46%).

FLEET & GROWTH:
Ryanair had a fleet of 146x B737 Gamechangers at year-end and we hope to increase this to 158 by the end of July, which is 23 short of our contracted Boeing deliveries.  We continue to work closely with Boeing CEO (Dave Calhoun), CFO (Brian West) and the new Seattle management team to improve quality and accelerate B737 aircraft deliveries.  There remains a risk that Boeing deliveries could slip further.  We plan to deliver as much growth as possible for passengers and airport partners in S.24, although these delays mean more traffic growth will occur in lower yielding H2 than planned.  To facilitate this growth, we will continue to take delivery of B737s through Jul., Aug., and Sept., and Lauda recently extended 3x A320 op. leases by 4-years to 2028.

Travel demand in Europe is strong for S.24 and, despite Boeing delivery delays, we will operate our largest ever Summer schedule with over 200 new routes (and 5 new bases).  S.24 short-haul EU capacity is constrained as competitor airlines ground A320 aircraft for P&W engine repairs (these disruptions will likely run into 2026) and OEMs struggle to recover their delivery backlogs.  We therefore urge customers to book Summer travel early on www.ryanair.com to secure the best airfares before they sell out.

We expect European airline consolidation to continue, with the takeover of ITA (Italy) and Air Europa (Spain) progressing and the sale of TAP (Portugal) next.  This, in addition to A320 fleet groundings and the large backlog of OEM aircraft deliveries, is likely to constrain capacity growth in Europe for some years.  These capacity constraints, combined with our significant cost advantage (incl. FY25 fuel hedge savings of €450m), strong balance sheet, low-cost aircraft orders and industry leading resilience, will (we believe) underpin a decade of profitable growth for Ryanair as we grow to 300m passengers by FY34. 

FY24 BUSINESS REVIEW:

Revenue & Costs:
FY24 scheduled revenue increased 32% to €9.15bn.  Traffic grew 9% to 183.7m while ave. fare rose 21% to €49.80, thanks to a record H1 and strong Easter traffic in late Mar., offset by softer than expected Q3 fares and load factors (following the sudden, but welcome, removal of Ryanair flights from many OTA Pirate websites in early Dec.).  Ancillary sales increased 12% to €4.30bn (c.€23.40 per passenger).  Total FY24 revenue rose 25% to €13.44bn.  Operating costs increased 24% to €11.38bn, primarily due to a 32% increase in fuel costs, higher staff costs (incl. pay restoration, crew, engineering & handler pay rises, higher crewing ratios and pilot productivity pay as we improve operational resilience) and Boeing delivery delays.  More importantly, the widening cost gap between Ryanair and our EU competitors (which is further enhanced by Ryanair’s low-cost financing and net interest income) remains a growing competitive advantage.

Our FY25 fuel requirements are over 70% hedged at just under $80bbl and 80% of €/$ opex is hedged at $1.11.  This strong hedge position locks-in approx. €450m savings on fuel, and substantially insulates the Group from current fuel price volatility.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity:
Our balance sheet remains one of the strongest in the industry with a BBB+ credit rating (both S&P and Fitch) and €4.12bn gross cash at year-end, despite €2.4bn capex and well over €1bn debt repayments.  Year-end net cash was €1.37bn (PY: €0.56bn), somewhat boosted by Boeing delivery delays.  Our owned B737 fleet (556 aircraft) is fully unencumbered, which significantly widens our cost advantage over competitor airlines, many of whom are exposed to rising aircraft lease and financing costs.

SHAREHOLDER RETURNS:
Our strategy, as Ryanair recovered from Covid, was to prioritise pay restoration and multi-year pay increases for our people, which has now been delivered.  Secondly, in a higher interest rate environment, we intended to pay down remaining debt as it matures in 2025 and 2026, while also financing our aircraft capex from internal resources.  Once these priorities have been secured, Group policy is to prioritise growth to drive shareholder value while maintaining a strong, investment grade, balance sheet, and delivering shareholder returns.

In line with the above Capital Allocation Policy, Ryanair paid an interim dividend of €0.175 per share in Feb. with a final dividend of €0.178 per share due in Sept. following our AGM.  Given current surplus cash, the Board has approved a €700m share buyback now (which will formally launch later this week).  This buyback when completed, will increase the funds Ryanair has returned to shareholders since 2008 to over €7.8bn.

OUTLOOK:
Ryanair expects to grow FY25 traffic by 8% (198m to 200m passengers), subject to Boeing deliveries returning to contracted levels before year-end.  Our cost advantage over competitors continues to widen, even though we expect FY25 unit costs to rise modestly as ex-fuel costs (incl. annualised pay & productivity allowance increases, higher handling & ATC fees and the impact of Gamechanger delivery delays on crewing ratios and fixed costs) is substantially offset by our fuel hedge savings and our rising interest income.  With EU short-haul capacity constrained, S.24 demand is positive, with bookings trending ahead of last year.  Recent pricing is softer than we expected, with Q1 requiring more price stimulation than last year (particularly as half of Easter moved into Mar. and out of Apr.).  While  visibility is limited, and the outcome will be heavily dependent on close-in peak S.24 pricing, we remain cautiously optimistic that peak S.24 fares will be flat to modestly ahead of last summer.  Q4 FY25 will not benefit from an early Easter (as it did in FY24).  It is therefore too early to be able to provide sensible or accurate FY25 PAT guidance.  The final outcome for FY25 will be heavily dependent upon avoiding adverse events during FY25 (such as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, extensive ATC disruptions or further Boeing delivery delays).”   

 

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has partnered with Citi to become the first European airline to deposit funds in its new Sustainable Deposit Solution, which launched earlier this year. This will enable Ryanair to invest excess cash to support different sustainable financing projects across Citi’s portfolio, such as renewable energy, water conservation, healthcare and education in emerging markets.

The initiative supports Ryanair’s sustainability agenda. Funds invested are allocated to finance or refinance assets in a portfolio of eligible green and/or social finance projects, based on the criteria set out in the Citi Green Bond Framework, Social Finance Framework and Social Bond for Affordable Housing Framework.

Ryanair’s Director of Sustainability, Thomas Fowler, said:

“Ryanair is proud to be leading sustainable aviation in Europe, which is further evidenced by our partnership with Citi to deposit funds in their new Sustainable Deposit Solution. This will not only help us manage our finances more sustainably but will further drive our sustainability agenda in whole as we support several sustainability projects across Citi’s portfolio, from water conservation to affordable housing and beyond.”

David Tsui, Global Sustainability (ESG) Head of Deposit and Investment Products at Citi, said:

“Citi is helping our clients to progress their own ESG priorities by providing the opportunity to support eligible environmental and social projects in Citi’s portfolios. We are delighted to partner with Ryanair as the first European airline to deposit funds in our recently launched Sustainable Deposit Solution.  We have committed to financing and facilitating $1 trillion in sustainable finance by 2030 as part of goal to further the acceleration to a sustainable, low carbon economy.”

Ryanair Holdings today (7 Nov.) reported a strong half-year after tax profit of €1.37bn, compared to a pre- Covid (FY20) H1 profit of €1.15bn, due to record Q2 traffic, strong operational reliability and robust summer fares which in Q2 were 14% up on pre-Covid pricing.

During H1:

• Summer traffic recovered strongly to 95.1m from 39.1m (+11% over pre-Covid 85.7m in FY20). 
• H1 fares up 7% on pre-Covid levels (Q2: +14%, offset by lower Q1 fares due to Ukraine invasion).
• 15 new bases and 770 new routes open in H1.
• 73 B737-8200 “Gamechangers” delivered for S.22 – 51 due for S.23 (124 total).
• FY23 fuel 81% hedged at $67bbl (FY24 now 50% hedged at $93bbl).
• Aircraft capex hedged at €/$ 1.24 until FY26.
• Net debt cut to €0.5bn at 30 Sep. (from €1.45bn at 31 Mar.).

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, said:

ENVIRONMENT:

“We continue to invest heavily in fuel efficient, environmentally friendly new aircraft technology.  Passengers who switch to Ryanair (from high-fare EU legacy airlines) can reduce their emissions by up to 50% per flight, proving that with Ryanair tourism growth can be delivered in a more sustainable manner.  During S.22 we operated 73 new B737 “Gamechanger” aircraft, which deliver 4% more seats per flight yet burn 16% less fuel and cut noise emissions by up to 40%. 

We continue to invest to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).  Our partnership with Trinity College’s Sustainable Aviation Research Centre is now in its second year and its activity has ramped up significantly.  Building on the recent success of our partnership with Neste to power up to one third of our Schiphol flights (AMS) with a 40% SAF blend, we signed a long-term deal with OMV in Sep. to purchase up to 160,000 tonnes of SAF at Ryanair airports across Austria, Germany and CEE.  Ryanair hopes to power 12.5% of flights using SAF and cut our CO₂ per pax/km by 10% to 60 grams by 2030.  As part of our carbon strategy, the Group recently concluded an agreement to retro-fit scimitar winglets on our 409 B737-800NG fleet (an investment valued at over $200m).  This retro-fit program commences in W.22 and will further reduce fuel burn by 1.5%. Through A4E, and the EU, we are campaigning to accelerate reform of European ATC to eliminate needless flight delays, which will substantially reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions.    

In recognition of our progress to date and our industry leading (CDP ‘B’) climate rating, Sustainalytics[1] has ranked Ryanair the No.1 airline in Europe for ESG performance.  In June we submitted Ryanair’s commitment letter to SBTi[2] and we will work with them over the next 2 years to verify our ambitious targets to become net carbon zero by 2050.

SOCIAL:

Pay restoration:

At the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ryanair and its union partners negotiated agreements to protect crew jobs via temporary pay cuts which were to be gradually restored from 2022 to 2025. These agreements successfully delivered job security through the 2 years of the Covid pandemic, as Ryanair maintained not only the jobs but also the licences of our crews.  This investment positioned Ryanair as the best prepared airline for the post-Covid traffic recovery.  By keeping our crews current, and recruiting early, Ryanair avoided the crew shortages which caused so many competitor cancellations and disruptions in Summer 2022. Since Spring 2022 we have worked with our union partners to negotiate accelerated pay restoration as part of long-term deals on pay and rosters which run until 2026 or 2027. Long-term agreements have, to date, been concluded to cover over 90% of our pilots and cabin crew. 

Under these long-term agreements, full pay restoration was brought forward by 24 months to Apr. 2023, subject to our business recovery.  However, following the Group’s strong H1 financial and operational performance, we will now bring forward the full restoration of pay for all crews covered by these long-term agreements to 1 Dec. 2022 (instead of Apr. 2023).  These crews will now receive their full pay restoration in the Christmas payroll. While considerable uncertainty hovers over the remainder of FY23, it has always been our priority to restore pay as soon as our business recovers. These long-term pay agreements with the vast majority of our people have now delivered fully restored pay 28 months earlier than previously agreed, and they will also deliver annual pay increases from 2024 until 2026 as we create thousands of new well-paid crew jobs and grow traffic to 225m p.a. by FY26.

We have written today to the tiny minority of unions representing the less than 10% of pilots and cabin crew who have so far failed to reach agreements on accelerated restoration, urging them to return to negotiations. We look forward to concluding early agreements with them on similar terms to the existing negotiated agreements which will then cover all of our people.

Training, Customer Panel & CSAT:

Ryanair recently took delivery of the first of 8 new CAE full flight simulators (value over $80m).  We will expand our state-of-the art training facilities over the next 3-years and are close to selecting suitable locations for 2 new training centres (a €100m investment) in CEE and the Iberian Peninsula.  Over recent months we’ve continued to invest in engineering and maintenance, and announced new hangar facilities in Malta, Kaunas (Lith.) and Shannon (Ire.).  These new facilities will enable us to create more cadets and apprenticeships for school leavers, bringing through the next generation of highly skilled aviation professionals.

Over 37,000 of our passengers recently applied to join our Customer Panel which has expanded to include reps from Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK.  The new Panel met in Dublin in Oct. and provided valuable insights and suggestions to help us to further improve Ryanair’s offers and customer care.  While CSAT scores were impacted by numerous ATC delays/strikes this summer and lengthy airport security queues (particularly in Q1), Ryanair’s operational resilience, reliability and friendly crew meant that we still recorded a very strong 83% rating across H1.

OP. PERFORMANCE & GROWTH:

Our Group airlines delivered an industry leading operations performance and robust post Covid traffic recovery in H1.  This summer we operated at 115% of our pre-Covid capacity, completed over 3,000 daily flights and delivered record traffic across peak S.22, despite unprecedented ATC disruptions and regrettable airport security delays (primarily in Q1).

We had 73 Gamechangers in our fleet for peak S.22.  Our growth is being hampered by Boeing’s inability to meet its delivery schedule in Q3, despite their previous assurances that Ryanair deliveries would be “prioritised”.  We expect Boeing will only deliver 10 or 12 of the contracted 21 Gamechangers due before Christmas.  Boeing assure us that they will deliver all scheduled 51 Gamechangers ahead of peak S.23, although there is a risk that some of these deliveries could slip.  We are planning FY24 growth based on 51 extra aircraft for peak S.23 and we continue to recruit and train substantial numbers of pilots, cabin crew and engineers.  During H1, Ryanair announced 100 new routes for W.22 and most of our S.23 capacity is now on sale on www.ryanair.com. Our Routes teams continue to lock-in long term traffic recovery growth deals with airport partners across Europe which will reinforce Ryanair’s market share growth and cost leadership in Europe.

Over the past 3 years, numerous airlines went bankrupt and many legacy carriers (incl. Alitalia, TAP, SAS and LOT) significantly cut their fleets and passenger capacity, even while ‘doping’ on multi-billion-euro State Aid packages.  These structural capacity reductions have created enormous growth opportunities for Ryanair to deploy our new, fuel efficient, B737 Gamechangers and as a result our market shares have surged across major EU markets.  Our reliability, lowest (ex-fuel) unit costs, very strong fuel and US$ hedges, fleet ownership and strong balance sheet ensures that the Group is well placed to grow profitability and traffic to 225m p.a. by FY26.     

H1 FY23 BUSINESS REVIEW:

Revenue & Costs:

H1 scheduled revenues increased almost 250% to €4.42bn as traffic recovered strongly from 39.1m to 95.1m (at a 94% load factor).  Record Q2 traffic and strong peak summer fares (+14% over pre-Covid) offset a weak Easter in Q1, which saw traffic and fares damaged by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late Feb.  Ancillary revenue delivered a solid performance with spend increasing to €23 per passenger.  Total revenue jumped by over 200% to €6.62bn.

While sectors more than doubled and traffic increased 143%, operating costs rose just 126% to €4.98bn (incl. a 205% increase in fuel to €2.18bn), driven by lower variable costs, higher load factors and improved fuel burn from our Gamechanger fleet.  Cost per passenger (ex-fuel) fell below €30 in H1 (slightly lower than the same period pre-Covid). 

Our FY23 jet fuel requirements are 81% hedged at an ave. of $67bbl and during H1 we raised our FY24 jet fuel hedges to 50% at approx. $93bbl.  Forex is also well hedged with over 80% of FY23 €/$ opex hedged at 1.14 and almost 20% of FY24 hedged at 1.08.  Our Boeing order book is fully hedged at €/$ 1.24 out to FY26.  This very strong hedge position helps insulate Ryanair from recent spikes in fuel prices and the US$ and gives our Group airlines a huge cost advantage over our EU competitors, especially this winter and into FY24.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity:

Ryanair’s balance sheet is one of the strongest in the industry with a BBB (stable) credit rating (S&P and Fitch).  Net debt at 30 Sep. has fallen to €0.5bn (from €1.45bn at 31 Mar.), despite €0.9bn capex.  Almost all of the Group’s fleet of B737s are owned and over 90% are unencumbered which widens our cost advantage at a time when interest rates and leasing costs of our competitors are rising. Our focus over the next year is the repayment of €1.6bn of maturing bonds while returning our balance sheet to a broadly zero net debt position.  The strength of our balance sheet ensures that the Group is well positioned to exploit the many growth opportunities that are currently emerging as we grow to 225m passenger p.a. by FY26.

RECESSION & PRICE INFLATION:

Concerns about the impact of recession and rising consumer price inflation on Ryanair’s business model have been greatly exaggerated in recent months.  As the lowest cost producer in Europe, we expect to grow strongly in a recession as consumers won’t stop flying, but rather they will become more price sensitive.  Like Aldi, Lidl, Ikea and other price leaders our very strong post Covid recovery shows that price will continue to drive market share gains as we add low cost, more fuel efficient, aircraft to our fleet over the next 4 years.  As Europe recovers from the 2-year Covid pandemic there has been a considerable contraction of short haul capacity, much of which will not return in the medium term.  Most of our EU competitors have cut capacity by up to 20% this Winter while Ryanair will offer 10% more seats than pre-Covid. 

As our H1 traffic and market share growth shows, millions of passengers are switching to fly with Ryanair for our lower prices, our industry leading reliability and our greener, fuel efficient aircraft. Consumer propensity to travel remains high in Europe as a result of full employment, rising wages and 2 years of pent-up-demand and accumulated savings while people were ‘locked up’ during Covid.  We expect these strong fundamentals will continue to underpin robust traffic and ave. fare growth for the next 18-months at least, and Ryanair will be the main beneficiary of these trends so long as there are no negative developments this Winter such as Covid variants or Ukraine.

OUTLOOK:

The recovery for the remainder of FY23 remains fragile and could yet be impacted by new Covid variants or adverse geopolitical events such as Ukraine.  However forward bookings (both traffic and fares) remain strong over the Oct. school mid-terms and into the peak Christmas travel period.  We hope to avoid any repeat of last year’s Omicron lockdowns which damaged last Christmas at such short notice. As is normal, at this time of year, we have almost zero visibility into Q4 which is traditionally our weakest quarter and which this year doesn’t have any Easter benefit.

While we remain dependent on Boeing meeting their delivery commitments, especially for Christmas extras and Spring mid-term, we are modestly raising our FY23 traffic guidance to 168m passengers (previously 166.5m), up 13% on our pre-Covid traffic.  We remain hopeful that full-year fares will remain ahead of FY20 (pre-Covid) by a mid-to-high single digit percentage but we remain cautious that yields could be impacted at very short notice in H2 as they were last year by Omicron in late Nov. which damaged Christmas and the Ukraine invasion on 24 Feb. which so clearly damaged Mar. and Apr. traffic.  If we are fortunate to avoid such negative events like Covid and Ukraine in H2 then, thanks to our very strong traffic recovery, our advantageous fuel and currency hedges and our widening cost and market share leadership over competitors, we are hopeful that we will minimise our winter losses which would enable us to deliver an FY23 PAT (pre-exceptionals) in a range of €1.00bn to €1.20bn.  This cautious guidance will remain hugely dependent on not suffering adverse events this Winter (as we did last, which were clearly beyond our control).”

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[1] Sustainalytics – a leading independent ESG & corporate governance research, ratings & analytics firm.

[2] Science Based Targets initiative – a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute & the Worldwide Fund for Nature.  It helps companies to set emission reduction targets in line with climate science & the Paris Agreement goals.

Ryanair Holdings plc today (Tues, 4 Oct) released Sept. traffic statistics as follows:

Šiandiena, rugpjūčio mėn. 10 d., Ryanair paskelbė liepos mėn. klientų aptarnavimo statistiką, kuri patvirtina, kad Ryanair išlieka Nr. 1 aviakompanija Europoje:

• 83% iš 69 tūkst. skrydžių atvyko numatytu laiku (punktualumą liepos mėn. neigiamai įtakojo oro kontrolierių streikai)
• Mažiau negu 2 skundų 1 tūkst. klientų
• Mažiau nei 1 skundas dėl pamesto bagažo 1 tūkst. klientų
• Į 99% visų skundų atsakyta per 7 dienas

Ryanair atstovas Robin Kiely sakė:

“Liepos mėn. aviakompanija Ryanair pervežė daugiau kaip 12.6 mln. klientų bei įvykdė daugiau kai 69 tūkst. skrydžių iš kurių 83% atvyko numatytu laiku. Ryanair toliau aktyviai plečia savo maršrutų tinklą bei tęsia „Always Getting Better” programą, kurios tikslas gerosios klientų patirties kūrimas. Ryanair siūlo kur kas daugiau nei tik žemiausias kainas Europoje.”

Liepos mėn.	2016	2017
Skrydžiai kurie atvyko numatytu laiku	85%	83%
Skundai (1 tūkst. klientų)	1.61	2.06
Skundai dėl bagažo (1 tūkst. klientų)	0.60	0.66
Skundai atsakyti per 7 dienas	99%	99%