BOOK EARLY FOR LOWEST FARES FROM JUST €35.99

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, has today (29 Nov) launched its highly anticipated summer 2024 schedule with over 400,000 seats for Estonian holidaymakers looking to get away this summer to soak up some sun with friends and family and recharge with some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

Operating from the end of March, Ryanair’s summer 2024 schedule offers an unbeatable choice of popular sunny hotspots and city breaks, as well as less-well known destinations to unearth and explore at the lowest fares in Europe.

To celebrate the launch of its summer 2024 schedule and over 400,000 seats for its Estonian customers, Ryanair has launched a limited-time seat sale with fares available from just €35.99 for travel until the end of Oct 2024. 

Ryanair’s Director of Digital & Marketing Dara Brady said:

“Ryanair is pleased to announce our summer 2024 schedule with over 400,000 seats available for our Estonian customers across a host of amazing destinations. So, if you’re looking to soak up some well-deserved sun this summer, you won’t be disappointed with the unbeatable selection of destinations we have on offer at the lowest fares in Europe. With fares starting from just €35.99, customers should visit ryanair.com now and book early to make sure they secure the best possible price – future you will thank you for it.”

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.”

OVER 700,000 ESN BOOKINGS IN 7 YEARS

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, and the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) today (9^th Nov) announced that they will continue their partnership for a seventh year, further helping European students to travel at the lowest fares during their educational exchange. Through this partnership, Erasmus students are offered a dedicated ESN booking platform on the Ryanair.com website, where they can avail of 10% flight discounts on four one-way flights (or 2 round-trips) and a free 20kg checked-in bag with every flight booked.

Since 2017, ESN students have benefited from this exclusive partnership which has seen over 700,000 bookings to date. Ryanair is Europe’s most environmentally efficient major airline, has a leading network of 230+ destinations and a record order of 300 environmentally efficient Boeing MAX-10 aircraft.

Ryanair is committed to continuing to support the recovery of Erasmus student mobility across Europe. ESN students can now book their low fare Ryanair flights with these exclusive travel discounts through the dedicated platform at www.ryanair.com.

Ryanair’s Head of Public Affairs, Matthew Krasa, said:

“Ryanair is pleased to announce our exclusive partnership with ESN for the 7^th year running, promoting student mobility by offering third level students across Europe a range of exclusive flight offers, including generous discounts and free-of-charge baggage. As Ryanair continues to grow and invest in Europe, we are delighted to support the EU flagship Erasmus programme and the incredible opportunities offered to their student members.”

ESN President, Rita Dias, and ESN Treasurer, Ayberk Yavuz, said:

“The continuation of the partnership between Ryanair and ESN constitutes a significant stepping stone in advancing ESN’s commitment to making mobility more inclusive and affordable for students across Europe. Lack of financial means and uncertainty about additional costs have been reported as one of the largest obstacles to participation in learning mobility, frequently impacting the overall quality and experience of students’ experience. 

ESN recognises the value of the partnership with Ryanair in addressing one of the main barriers faced by students. Numerous students have encountered difficulties when deciding to undertake a foreign exchange programme due to a combination of geographic factors and financial constraints. Our partnership with Ryanair provides a means to ease these burdens, namely through free luggage schemes and discounted plane tickets. This can improve students’ exchange experiences, and in addition, make a positive impact on the local economies of the host communities. 

Participating in the Erasmus programme is a key factor for the personal and professional growth of young people. Ensuring that this opportunity is accessible to a wide range of students is essential for the future of Europe. We thank Ryanair for their ongoing commitment to the Erasmus Student Network and for facilitating these opportunities.”

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.

Ryanair Holdings plc today (Thurs, 2 Nov) released October 2023 traffic stats as follows:

Ryanair operated over 96,700 flights in October 2023. Over 870 flights cancelled due to Israel/Gaza conflict.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, has today (19th Oct) purchased 500 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from OMV, the international integrated oil, gas and chemicals company. This agreement will save over 1,250 tonnes in CO₂ emissions (equivalent to c.100 Ryanair flights from Dublin to Vienna). 

This purchase follows on from the MoU agreement made between the companies last year, providing Ryanair with unique access to purchase up to 160,000 metric tonnes of SAF from OMV up to 2030.

Today’s announcement demonstrates Ryanair’s continued commitment towards its 12.5% SAF use by 2030 target, as well as the airline and OMV’s ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Ryanair has already significantly advanced these commitments by partnering with Trinity College Dublin to open the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre, investing $22bn in its ‘Gamechanger’ fleet, which reduce CO₂ emissions by 16% and a further $40bn investment for 300 Boeing 737 MAX-10 aircraft which reduce CO₂ emissions by 20% while carrying 21% more passengers.

OMV is also implementing numerous measures to achieve its ambitious strategic sustainability goals with SAF an essential contributor to this transformation. It is OMV’s ambition to become a regional leader in the supply of SAF. 

Speaking from Vienna, Ryanair’s Head of Sustainability, Steven Fitzgerald said:

“SAF plays a key role in our Pathway to Net Zero decarbonisation strategy in which we have committed to increasing our use of SAF over the coming years – a commitment that this deal with OMV will help move further forward. OMV is a key partner for Ryanair in Austria, Germany and Romania and we look forward to growing this partnership as Europe’s largest airline Group.”

Martijn van Koten, OMV Executive Vice President Fuels & Feedstock, said:

“We are building a growth business for Sustainable Aviation Fuel to support the industry’s journey towards a more sustainable future. We are proud of our partnership with Ryanair that allows both companies to leverage their expertise in promoting the use of SAF. This facilitates the transition towards the application of more sustainable forms of energy and helps reduce the climate impact of aviation.”

64 DAYS OF ATC STRIKES SO FAR IN 2023 YET STILL NO ACTION FROM THE EU COMMISSION

PASSENGERS NEEDLESSLY SUFFER DISRUTPIONS ON FRIDAY 13^TH OCT DESPITE NOT EVEN FLYING TO/FROM FRANCE

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, has today (12^th Oct) again 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 Friday, 13^th Oct.

So far in 2023, there has been 64 days of ATC strikes (over 12 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 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.

Last month Ryanair delivered its ‘Protect Overflights: Keep EU Skies Open’ petition to the EU Commission which now has over 1.8m signatures from fed-up passengers demanding that the EU Commission protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during repeated ATC strikes. Despite this, Ursula von der Leyen, has still not taken action to protect EU passengers who are not even flying to/from France from suffering last minute cancellations due to French ATC strikes, as they will this Friday 13^th Oct.

Ryanair calls on Ursula von der Leyen to act on the petition of over 1.8m EU passengers and:

• 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

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“It is disgraceful to think that French ATC are striking again this Friday, 13^th Oct – the 64^th day of ATC strikes in 2023 alone – and despite Ryanair’s repeated calls on Ursula von der Leyen and her College of Commissioners, they still have not taken any action to protect EU passengers from suffering needless disruptions during these ATC strikes. As a result, even more passengers will have their flights cancelled at short notice due to the French ATC strike on Friday, 13^th Oct, 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 national French strikes are allocated to French flights, not those overflying France en route to another unrelated EU destination.

Since Ryanair launched our ‘Protect Overflights: Keep EU Skies Open’ petition  last March, we have collected more than 1.8m passenger signatures calling on Ursula von der Leyen to protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during repeated ATC strikes. We delivered these signatures to the EU Commission last month, yet here we are a month later and still no action has been taken. It is utterly unacceptable that Ursula von der Leyen is ignoring these EU passengers, who are sick and tired of having their overflights cancelled at short notice due to repeated ATC strikes. If the EU Commission President is not willing to do her job, then she should resign and hand it over to a competent person who will.

Ursula von der Leyen must now take urgent action to protect overflights during the French ATC strike taking place tomorrow, Friday 13^th Oct, or answer to the 1.8m passengers who she has failed to protect by offering her resignation.”