Ryanair today (20 Dec) welcomed the EU General Court’s rulings that €7bn Covid-19 State aid granted to Air France-KLM in 2020 and €4bn in 2021 was illegal. Ryanair now calls on the European Commission to order France to immediately recover this multi-billion euro illegal State aid package from Air France-KLM and impose adequate remedies to repair at least some of the damage to competition done by this massive State bailout.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“One of the EU’s greatest achievements is the creation of a true single market for air transport.  The European Commission’s approval of the French State aid to Air France-KLM went against the fundamental principles of EU law, like the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality. Today’s judgments confirm that the Commission must act as a guardian of the level playing field in air transport and cannot sign-off discriminatory State aid issued by national governments. The Court’s intervention is a triumph for fair competition and consumers across the EU. 

The EU Commission’s spineless approach to State aid since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis allowed Member States to write open-ended cheques to their inefficient zombie flag carriers in the name of faded national prestige.

During the Covid-19 pandemic over €40bn in discriminatory State subsidies was gifted to EU flag carriers. The EU General Court has already ruled in other cases concerning Covid-19 State aid that billions of euros in aid received by SAS, Lufthansa and certain Italian airlines were unlawful.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition has still not acted to force recovery of the unlawful aid, nor has it imposed any measures to remedy the damage to competition caused by the Swedish, Danish, German, and Italian governments favouring their local airlines over other EU airlines, in breach of EU law. Today’s judgments underline the need for the European Commission to immediately act to recover these illegal State aid packages and order remedies to restore at least some of the damage done to competition.

Undistorted competition eliminates inefficiency and benefits consumers through low fares and choice. Unjustified subsidies, on the other hand, encourage ineffectiveness and will harm consumers for decades to come.”

RYANAIR CALLS ON EU COMMISSION PRESIDENT TO TAKE ACTION OR RESIGN

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (18 Dec) called on the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to take urgent action to protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during ATC strikes with passengers facing further unnecessary disruption today due to French ATC strikes.

There has been no action from the EU Commission to date, who continue to ignore over 2 million fed-up EU passengers who have signed Ryanair’s “Protect Passengers: Keep EU Skies Open” petition calling on Ursula von der Leyen to take immediate action to protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during repeated ATC strikes.

So far in 2023, there have been 67 days of ATC strikes (13 times more than in 2022), forcing airlines to cancel thousands of EU overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK, while France uses Minimum Service Laws to protect French local flights. This is unfair. France (and all other EU states) should protect overflights during ATC strikes as they do in Spain, Italy and Greece and cancel flights to/from the affected State.

Ryanair again calls on Ursula von der Leyen to act on the petition of over 2 million EU passengers as follows;

• Respect the strike rights of ATC unions
• Protect 100% of flights overflying strike-affected countries
• Require 21-day advance notice of ATC strikes
• Require 72-hour advance notice of participation in ATC strikes

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

‘We are still waiting on Ursula von der Leyen to take action to protect EU passengers’ Freedom of Movement by keeping EU skies open by protecting overflights during repeated ATC strikes. It is unacceptable that passengers face more disruption from French ATC strikes again this Mon, (18^thDec) which is the 67^th  day of ATC strikes in 2023 alone.

As a result, even more passengers will have their flights delayed due to this French ATC strike, disrupting millions of EU passengers’ Christmas travel plans despite not even flying to/from France. This is because France unfairly uses Minimum Service Laws to protect French flights while forcing disruption on overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK. We have no problem with French ATC unions exercising their right to strike, but the EU Commission should insist that cancellations due to national French strikes are allocated to French flights, not those overflying France flying to another EU destination.

The EU Commission President continues to ignore over 2m EU citizens who have signed our Protect Passengers – Keep EU Skies Open petition. It is disgraceful that Ursula von der Leyen has failed to act on this petition which Ryanair has delivered directly to the EU Commission offices in both May and Sept last.

EU passengers are sick and tired of suffering unnecessary overflight cancellations during ATC strikes. The EU Commission must now act upon the petition of more than 2m EU passengers’ signatures – there is no excuse for EU passengers not flying to/from the affected member state to bear the burden of national ATC strikes that are completely unrelated to them. Ursula von der Leyen must immediately put a stop to this or answer to the 2m passengers who she has failed to protect, by offering her resignation.”

INDUSTRY-LEADING ROUTE NETWORK, FREQUENCIES, AND FARES FOR CORPORATE TRAVEL

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, has today (15 Dec) announced a ground-breaking new agreement with SAP Concur, the world’s leading brand for travel, expense, and invoice management, to integrate Ryanair’s low fares and unrivalled network of over 3,300 daily flights to over 230 destinations across 36 countries directly with Concur Travel, further expanding access to Ryanair’s fares and network for corporate travellers.

This exciting new partnership means that corporate customers can now access Ryanair’s industry leading low fares, network of key city connections across Europe with regular morning and evening flights to ensure convenient low-cost corporate travel conveniently through the market-leading Concur Travel online booking tool as well as a dedicated Concur TripLink booking flow on Ryanair’s website/app.  

Corporate customers who book Ryanair flights directly through this state-of-the-art travel solution will benefit from significant efficiencies, including automated expense management and the convenience of their booking details being fed into SAP Concur solutions, reducing any unnecessary admin. Through this agreement, registered users will not have to complete Ryanair’s customer verification making their travel experience even more seamless.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“We are pleased to announce our exciting new partnership with SAP Concur, which will enable corporates to access Ryanair’s low fares and industry leading network of 3,300 daily flights across over 230 destinations. Our low fares and high frequency schedules cater perfectly for business travel, saving money and time for businesses.

We look forward to working further with SAP Concur over the coming years as Ryanair continues to grow to carry 300m passengers p.a. by 2034.”

Paul Dear, Regional VP Supplier Services EMEA, SAP Concur added:

“We are happy to be working directly with Ryanair on these initiatives to deliver increased value to our corporate travel and expense customers. Everyone is looking forward to an exciting 2024 with the continued evolution of Concur Travel and new partnership with Ryanair.

These agreements show the Ryanair commitment to business travellers and corporate travel managers. We look forward to a long and successful relationship that delivers real value to the corporate travel community.”

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (7 Dec) welcomes the judgement of the Irish High Court granting a permanent injunction prohibiting screenscraper Flightbox from breaching the binding Terms of Use of the Ryanair website by using bot technology to unlawfully scrape Ryanair’s website for OTAs.  

Ryanair has long campaigned to protect customers from price gouging by OTAs who continue to dupe unsuspecting consumers by unlawfully scraping Ryanair’s website, including by overcharging for air fares and ancillary services, using fake customer accounts, fake customer payment cards and fake customer emails. This can be hugely detrimental to customers who, apart from being overcharged, cannot access their Ryanair bookings, make the necessary security declarations, access refunds, or receive direct email communications (such as online check-in reminders) from Ryanair. This historical and precedent-setting Court ruling is a major step forward in protecting unsuspecting consumers from being overcharged by OTAs (see table below), and will help to ensure that Ryanair customers always get the lowest fares, the best customer service, and real time email communications.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“We welcome this High Court ruling which established that this screenscraper is bound by the Terms of Use of the Ryanair website, which prohibits screenscraping. Ryanair has been granted a permanent injunction to stop this unlawful screencraping of Ryanair’s data in breach of Ryanair’s Terms of Use. The Ryanair website is the only website authorised to sell Ryanair flights.

OTAs have for years relied upon screenscrapers (such as Flightbox), fake customer accounts, single-use payment cards and fake customer email addresses to make bookings on Ryanair’s website in breach of the Terms of Use. This can cause huge inconvenience and expense to customers as often OTAs not only overcharge for fares, bags and seats, but they also block customers from managing their bookings or receiving important flight updates from Ryanair (such as online check-in reminders).

This historic High Court ruling has reinforced Ryanair’s determination to pursue justice for our customers to ensure they get access to the lowest fares, cannot be overcharged by OTAs, and that they have direct access to manage their bookings and to receive up to date flight information.

Ryanair does not have a commercial relationship with any OTA or screenscraper and we strongly object to OTAs mis-selling our flights and overcharging consumers.  We encourage our customers to book directly with us through ryanair.com or our mobile app.”

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (19 Nov) called on the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to take urgent action to protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during the French ATC strike taking place Mon, 20^th Nov.

So far in 2023, there has been 65 days of ATC strikes (over 13 times more than in 2022) forcing airlines to cancel thousands of EU overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK, while France in particular uses Minimum Service Laws to protect French flights. This is unfair. France (and all other EU states) should protect overflights during ATC strikes as they do in Spain, Italy and Greece, and cancel flights to/from the affected State.

Ryanair calls on the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to take urgent action to protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during ATC strikes and calls on passengers to join its call on the EU Commission by signing Ryanair’s “Protect Passengers: Keep EU Skies Open” petition as over 2m fed up passengers have already done.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

‘It is completely unacceptable that there have been 65 days of ATC strikes this year (13 times more than in all of 2022) which have caused the cancellation of thousands of flights at short notice, unfairly disrupting EU passengers’ travel plans. Despite repeated calls on Ursula von der Leyen to protect passengers and overflights during these ATC strikes, she has failed to take any action to do so.

As a result, even more passengers will have their flights cancelled at short notice due to this French ATC strike on Mon, 20^th Nov, despite not even flying to/from France. This is because France unfairly uses Minimum Service Laws to protect French flights while forcing cancellations on overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK. We have no problem with French ATC unions exercising their right to strike, but the EU Commission should insist that cancellations due to French ATC strikes are allocated to French flights, not those overflying France en route to another unrelated EU destination.

EU passengers are sick and tired of suffering unnecessary overflight cancellations during ATC strikes, as evidenced by the 2m EU passenger signatures on our Protect Passengers – Keep EU Skies Open petition calling on Ursula von der Leyen to protect overflights and keep EU skies open during ATC strikes. There is no excuse for EU passengers not flying to/from the affected member state to bear the burden of ATC strikes that are completely unrelated to them and Ursula von der Leyen must immediately put a stop to this or answer to the 2m passengers who she has failed to protect by offering her resignation.”

Ryanair Holdings today (6 Nov.) reported a strong half-year profit of €2.18bn, compared to a prior year H1 PAT of €1.37bn, thanks to a strong Easter in Q1, record summer traffic and higher fares which offset significantly higher fuel costs in the half year.

H1 highlights:

• Traffic grew 11% to 105.4m (95% load factor). 
• Rev. per pax +17% (ave. fares +24% & ancil. rev. +3%).
• 3 new bases & 194 new routes in S.23.
• 124x B737 “Gamechangers”.  Total fleet of 563 aircraft at 30 Sep.
• Fuel bill rose €0.6bn (+29%) to €2.8bn.
• Fuel hedging extended – c.85% FY24 at $89bbl & over 50% FY25 at $79bbl.
• Net cash of €0.84bn (31 Mar. €0.56bn), over €1bn debt repaid.
• 300x Boeing MAX-10 order underpins growth decade to 300m pax p.a. by FY34.
• €400m maiden div. & div. policy announced.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, said:

ENVIRONMENT:

“Ryanair is one of the most environmentally efficient major EU airlines.  With a young fleet and high load factors, our CO2 per pax/km is just 65 grams.  We invest heavily in new, more efficient, technology. In H1 we took delivery of 26, new, B737-8200 “Gamechangers” (4% more seats, 16% less fuel & CO2).  We’re accelerating the retro-fit of scimitar winglets to almost 130 B737NGs (target 409 by 2026), reducing fuel burn by 1.5% and lowering noise emissions by a further 6%.  We are working with fuel partners to accelerate SAF supply and are on track to achieve the Group’s ambitious 2030 goal of powering 12.5% of Ryanair flights with SAF (9.5% already secured).     

The urgent reform of Europe’s inefficient ATC system is one of the most significant environmental initiatives  the EU can deliver.  In 2023, French ATC has (so far) inflicted over 60 days of strikes on our sector, during which the French Govt. use minimum service laws to protect local/domestic flights while disproportionately cancelling overflights.  In Sep., we delivered a petition (signed by 1.5m customers) calling on the EC to protect the single market for air travel by protecting overflights (while respecting ATC Unions right to strike), as is already the case in Greece, Italy and Spain. Sadly, we have yet to see any action from President Ursula von der Leyen on this key environmental initiative.

Our recent order for 300 Boeing MAX-10 aircraft (21% more seats, 20% less fuel & CO2 and 50% quieter), enabled us to reset the Group’s environmental targets as we strive to more sustainably grow traffic to 300m p.a. by FY34. In H1, we set a very ambitious target of 50 grams of CO2 per pax/km by FY31 (previously 60 grams by FY30) and published Ryanair’s 1.5 degree Climate Transition Plan.

SOCIAL:

We expect to create over 10,000 new, well-paid, jobs for highly trained aviation professionals as the Group expands our fleet to 800 aircraft by FY34.  Building on the success of our aviation training facilities in Dublin, Stansted, Bergamo and East Midlands, we’re opening 2 new excellence centres in Krakow and Madrid to accelerate local crew training and development in those major markets.  Our recently announced engineering academy will support 1,000 apprentices annually as we train the next generation of highly skilled mechanics and engineers.  Ryanair Labs is also growing at its dev. hubs in Dublin, Madrid, Portugal and Wroclaw to support Ryanair’s customer service, our efficiency and scalability over the coming decade.

Ryanair’s investment in resilience ahead of our S.23 schedule (increased crew ratios, doubling the capacity of our Dublin and Warsaw ops centres, enhanced day-of-travel app. and continuously improving live customer comms.) ensured that our passengers and crews could enjoy Ryanair’s industry leading OTP and reliability, despite significant ATC disruptions this year. This is reflected in our strong H1 CSAT score of 84%, notwithstanding over 60 days of French ATC strikes.

GROWTH & FLEET:

During S.23 we operated our largest ever schedule, including 3 new bases and over 190 new routes. We delivered record traffic across peak summer months.  This winter we’ll operate 6 new bases (Athens, Belfast, Copenhagen, Girona, Lanzarote & Tenerife), and over 60 new routes including our first 17 routes to Albania.  To date over 90% of S.24 capacity is already on sale, including over 180 new routes.

While Boeing are currently suffering delivery delays with Spirit (their fuselage supplier), we are working with them to minimise delays ahead of peak S.24.  At this stage, we are concerned that up to 10 of our 57 contracted Gamechanger deliveries pre S.24 may be delayed until winter 2024.

We expect European airlines will continue to consolidate over the next 2-3 years, with the takeover of ITA (Italy) and the sale of TAP (Portugal) and SAS (Scandinavia) already underway.  While Pratt & Whitney engine (GTF) issues and inspection programme threaten to substantially curtail competitor and lessor capacity between 2024 and 2026, the large backlog of OEM aircraft deliveries is also likely to constrain capacity in Europe for the next 3 or 4 years.  These capacity constraints, combined with our widening cost advantage, our judicious fuel hedging, strong balance sheet, low-cost aircraft orders and industry leading operational resilience, creates significant traffic and profit growth opportunities for Ryanair as we expand to carry 300m pax p.a. by FY34.    

H1 FY24 BUSINESS REVIEW:

Revenue & Costs

H1 scheduled revenues increased 37% to €6.1bn.  Traffic grew 11% to 105.4m while ave. fares rose 24% to c.€58 due to a strong Easter and record S.23 demand.  Ancillary revenue increased 14% to €2.5bn (c.€23.70 per passenger).  Total H1 FY24 revenue therefore rose 30% to €8.6bn.  Total operating costs increased 24% to €6.2bn, primarily due to much higher fuel costs (+29% to €2.8bn), higher staff costs (reflecting pay restoration, pre-agreed pay increases and higher crewing ratios as we invested in ops. resilience) and higher ATC fees (incl. airport & handling charges).   Ryanair’s cost advantage over most of its EU competitors continues to widen, with H1 ex-fuel unit costs finishing just under €32.

Our FY24 fuel requirements are almost 85% hedged at approx. $89bbl (a mix of forwards and caps) while our FY25 hedging has increased to just over 50% at approx. $79bbl.  This will deliver savings of approx. €300m on the fuel already hedged for FY25. Over 90% of FY24 €/$ opex is hedged at 1.08 and almost 50% of FY25 is hedged at 1.12.  This strong hedge position leaves us very well protected from recent short term fuel price volatility which many competitors are more, or fully, exposed to.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Ryanair’s balance sheet remains one of the strongest in the industry with a BBB+ credit rating (both S&P and Fitch) and over €3.6bn gross cash at period end, despite €1.6bn capex and over €1bn debt repayments (incl. a maturing €750m bond & €260m prepayment of our RCF in Aug.).  Net cash was €0.84bn at 30 Sep. (€0.56bn at 31 Mar.).  All of the Group’s owned B737 fleet (534 aircraft) are unencumbered, which significantly widens our cost advantage over competitor airlines who are heavily exposed to rising interest rates and rising aircraft lease costs. 

CAPITAL ALLOCATION POLICY:

Our Board’s strategy, as our business recovered from Covid, was to firstly prioritise pay restoration and multi-year pay increases for our people, something that has now been delivered over recent quarters.  Secondly, we are determined to pay down our remaining debt as it matures between now and 2026.  Closely aligned to this is the Group’s policy to prioritise growth opportunities to drive shareholder value.  This is achieved by maintaining a strong balance sheet and investment grade rating; investing in growth (the Gamechanger and MAX-10 orderbooks will deliver annual traffic of 300m by FY34) from internally generated cashflows; and shareholder returns.  Ryanair has an established track record of delivering industry leading returns to shareholders.  Between FY08 and FY20 we returned €6.74bn to shareholders via share buybacks and special dividends.

DIVIDEND POLICY:

Ryanair’s shareholders invested €400m in a share placing during the peak of the Covid crisis in Sep. 2020, which was key to Ryanair subsequently issuing a timely, low cost, €850m bond, which helped the Group emerge from the Covid pandemic in a position of unrivalled strategic and financial strength.  The Board is therefore pleased to declare a maiden ordinary dividend of €400m (c.€0.35 per share) in aggregate through an interim and final dividend of €200m each, payable in Feb. 2024 and after the AGM in Sep. 2024 respectively.

For subsequent financial years (i.e. for FY25 onwards), under the Group’s new dividend policy, Ryanair plans to return approx. 25% of prior-year PAT (adjusted for non-recurring gains or losses) by way of ordinary dividend to our shareholders.  Additionally, the Board, taking into account prevailing market conditions and ensuring that the Group retains a prudent level of cash to fund debt and capex requirements will retain the flexibility to consider, when or if appropriate, the return of surplus cash to shareholders through special dividends and/or share buybacks.

OUTLOOK:

We continue to target approx. 183.5m (+9%) FY24 traffic, although the final figure depends on Boeing meeting their delivery commitments between now and year-end.  As previously guided, we expect ex-fuel unit costs to increase by c.€2 this year, which still widens the cost gap between Ryanair and competitor airlines in Europe.  Forward bookings (both traffic and fares) are robust over the late Oct. mid-terms and into the peak Christmas travel period. With the benefit of constrained EU capacity this winter (Eurocontrol expect EU capacity to recover to only 94% of pre-Covid) and the impact of P&W engine repairs on competitor fleets, we currently expect Q3 ave. fares to be ahead of the prior year Q3 by a mid teens percentage.  Unhedged fuel costs, however, are significantly higher making it unlikely that we’ll replicate last year’s bumper Q3 performance.  As is normal at this time of year, we have very limited Q4 visibility.  Q4 is traditionally our weakest quarter and, this year, will be impacted by the partial unwind of free ETS carbon credits (from Jan. 2024). 

Despite uncertainty over Boeing deliveries, a significantly higher full year fuel bill (up c.€1.3bn on last year), very limited Q4 visibility and the risk of weaker consumer spending over coming months, we now expect that FY24 PAT will finish in a range of between €1.85bn to €2.05bn, assuming modest losses over the H2 winter period.  This guidance remains highly dependent on the absence of any unforeseen adverse events (for example such as Ukraine or Gaza) between now and the end of Mar. 2024.”

Notes

1 Non-IFRS financial measure, excl. €107m except. unrealised mark-to-market loss (timing unwind) on jet fuel caps.