Ryanair Launches ‘Buy One Get One Free’ Offer

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, is today (Thursday, 26^th Nov) launching a ‘Buy One Get One Free’ offer on 1,700 routes across its network, for travel from 1^st December 2020 until 27^th March 2021. Grab your favourite travel buddy and take off on a well-deserved break for two where one flies absolutely free.

Ryanair’s Black Friday deal goes live at 3pm this afternoon until midnight tomorrow (27^th November). With more routes available than ever before in any Ryanair ‘Buy One Get One Free’ offer, passengers across Europe will have the opportunity to fly home for free this Christmas or choose from 1,700 routes for a European getaway for travel until the end of March 2021. Customers only have until midnight tomorrow (27^th November) to avail of this deal available on the Ryanair.com website only.

 

Ryanair’s Director of Marketing, Dara Brady said:

 “We’re launching this not-to-be-missed Black Friday offer with more routes available than any previous Ryanair ‘Buy One Get One Free’ offer, just in time for Christmas travel planning. Book from 3pm today for travel from 1^st December 2020 until 27^th March 2021 across 1,700 routes and get a second ticket on the same flight for free.

Customers can book this top deal to favourite holiday and city break destinations across Europe, bringing their family or close friends on a much-deserved autumn or winter break. To avail of this special offer, customers must act fast and visit the Ryanair.com website to book their flights before midnight, tomorrow 27^th November.

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (20 Nov) announced it will extend the waiving of its flight change fee for all customers who book in December 2020 and January 2021. This gives Ryanair customers peace of mind and greater flexibility should their travel plans change, allowing them to move their flight with no change fee up to 30^th September 2021.

Customers that book in December and January but who are unable to travel on their intended dates can easily change their flight – hassle free and move to a new date up to 30^th September. Changes must be made at least 7 days prior to the departure date of the original booking.

 

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

“Plans change, so in order to provide as much flexibility and confidence as possible for our customers, we have extended the waiving of our flight change fee for all December and January bookings.

Customers can book trips for Christmas, Easter and the summer with confidence knowing that if they need to postpone their travel plans, they can move with zero change fee.

 Customers can now plan to see families at Christmas, or book Easter/summer holidays, safe in the knowledge that if plans change, they can move their flights without additional change fees”.

91% Of Customers Rate Ryanair Excellent/Very Good/Good

Ryanair today (4 Nov) released its October customer service statistics, which demonstrate that:

• 97% of Oct flights arrived on-time.

Ryanair also released its Oct ‘Rate My Flight’ customer experience scores, which show 91% of nearly 45,000 respondents rated their flight ‘Excellent/Very Good/Good’, with high ratings for crew friendliness (94%), onboard service (92%), boarding (88%) and range of food & drink (86%).

Rate My Flight	Excell/V Good/Good
Customer Experience	91%
Crew Friendliness	94%
Onboard Service	92%
Food & Drink Range	86%
Boarding	88%

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“Ryanair Group Airlines carried 4.1m customers in October, and we are pleased that over 97% of our flights arrived on-time.

We’re delighted that 91% of customers surveyed (nearly 45k) who have been flying with our new health guidelines, rated their Ryanair flight in October as ‘Excellent/Very Good /Good’ using Ryanair’s Rate My Flight feature, which allows all customers to provide real-time reviews of their flights via the Ryanair app and email.

This feedback is particularly welcomed during these times of Covid, when we are regularly assessing the effectiveness of our new health measures and as we continue to work with our people to ensure our guidelines are followed.”

 

73% Load Factor As Covid-19 Continues To Impact Traffic

Ryanair Holdings plc today (3 Nov) released October traffic statistics as follows:

	2019	2020	Growth
Ryanair Group	13.8m	4.1m	-70%
Rolling Annual	151.0m	70.3m  (86% LF)	-53%

                                                                                   

Ryanair operated approx. 40% of our normal October schedule with a 73% load factor.

 

Ryanair Holdings plc today (2 Nov.) reported a H1 loss of €197m, compared to a PY H1 profit of €1.15bn. Highlights of this 6-month period include:

• 99% of the fleet grounded from mid-March to end June.
• Successful return to service implemented 1 July.
• H1 traffic fell from 86m to 17m.
• Cost reduction measures implemented across business.
• Successful €1.25bn financing raised in Sep. (equity placing & eurobond).
• Cash prioritised. Closing cash €4.5bn.
• Over €1.5bn debt due in 2021 (incl. £600m UK CCFF & €850m Jun’14 bond).

 

H1 (IFRS) – Group*	30 Sep. 2019	30 Sep. 2020	Change
Customers	85.7m	17.1m	-80%
Load Factor	96%	72%	-24pts
Revenue	€5.39bn	€1.18bn	-78%
Op. Costs	€4.10bn	€1.35bn	-67%
PAT/(Net Loss)	€1.15bn	(€197m)	n/m

* excl. €214m except. hedge ineffectiveness charge.

 

COVID-19:

Covid-19 grounded the Group’s entire fleet from mid-March to the end of June as EU Govts imposed flight or travel bans and widespread population lockdowns.  During this crisis, Group airlines repatriated customers and operated rescue flights for many EU Govts.  The Group implemented extensive health measures, especially onboard aircraft, to comply with EU guidelines (ECDC & EASA) and on 1 July successfully resumed flights across most of our route network operating up to 60% of prior year capacity in Q2 achieving over 70% load factors.  Passenger confidence and forward bookings into W.20 were negatively impacted by the return of uncoordinated EU Govt flight restrictions in Sep. and Oct. which heavily curtailed travel to/from much of Central Europe, the UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Portugal.  As a result, Ryanair recently cut its FY21 traffic guidance to approx. 38m guests. This takes the Group’s W.20 (Nov-Mar) capacity down from the previously guided 60% to at most 40% of prior year traffic.

Ryanair’s Customer Service teams (supported by Ryanair Labs) have cleared an unprecedented volume of customer flight changes and Covid-19 cancellations, while processing a record backlog of refunds caused by almost 4 months of EU Govt imposed flight cancellations.  This process was frustrated by unlicensed OTAs, many of who provided false customer contact and fake payment details at the time of booking.  Despite the enormity of the task, almost all non-OTA refund requests have now been dealt with either via cash refunds or vouchers.

The Covid-19 crisis has already caused the closure of a number of EU airlines including Flybe, Germanwings and Level as well as deep long-term capacity reductions at many others.  It has sparked a flood of illegal State Aid from EU Governments to their flag carriers including Alitalia, Air France/KLM, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, TAP and others.  This illegal State Aid will distort competition and allow failed flag carriers to engage in below cost selling for many years.  We expect intra-European air travel capacity to remain subdued for the next few years.  This will create opportunities for Ryanair (Europe’s lowest cost airline) to grow its network, and expand its fleet, to take advantage of lower cost airport and aircraft opportunities that will inevitably arise.

 

H1 BUSINESS REVIEW:

Revenue & Costs

Revenue fell by 78% to €1.18bn as traffic fell 80% to 17.1m.  With almost zero Q1 traffic, the vast majority of H1 revenue was earned in Q2.  Ancillary revenue performed strongly as more guests chose priority boarding and reserved seating.

During the half-year substantial work has been undertaken to successfully improve Ryanair’s long term cost leadership.  The Group has agreed modest pay cuts with our people and their unions which helped minimise job losses. Lauda has been completely restructured, better terms were agreed with our maintenance providers, lessors, marketing & other suppliers and many airport deals were renegotiated.  Our Route Development teams are working with airports partners across Europe who have suffered steep traffic declines and discussions are ongoing with aircraft suppliers to amend pricing to reflect the new Covid-19 reality.  Due to significantly reduced W.20 traffic forecasts and ongoing aircraft delivery delays, the Group recorded a €214m ineffectiveness charge on fuel and currency hedges in H1.

 

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Ryanair’s balance sheet is one of the strongest in the industry with a BBB credit rating (S&P and Fitch) and over €4.5bn cash at 30 Sep. Almost 80% of the Group’s fleet is unencumbered (with a book value of over €7bn). Since March, the Group lowered cash burn by cutting costs, participating in EU Govt payroll support schemes, cancelling share buybacks and deferring non-essential capex.  In Sep., the Group raised €400m of equity and a 5-year (unsecured) €850m eurobond with a 2.875% coupon (both transactions were multiple times oversubscribed and keenly priced).  Cash was also boosted by €250m supplier reimbursements received in Q2.  This ensures that the Group is well financed to deal with the Covid-19 crisis and removes refinancing risk as it prepares to repay maturing debt over the coming year (CCFF £600m in Mar. & €850m bond in Jun. 2021).  This financial strength enables the Group to capitalise on the many growth opportunities that are available post Covid-19.

 

Boeing MAX update

It is over 18-months since the Group was due to take delivery of its first Boeing 737-MAX-200 aircraft.  Boeing expect a calendar Q4 return to service for the MAX-8, allowing Ryanair to, hopefully, accept delivery of its first MAX-200 in early 2021.  We expect to take delivery of approx. 30 MAXs before peak S.2021. While the Group received supplier reimbursements in Q2, compensation discussions will not be finalised or concluded with Boeing until the MAX returns to service and revised delivery schedules can be finalised and agreed.  We remain committed to the Boeing 737, particularly the new 200 series “gamechanger” aircraft which have 4% more seats, 16% lower fuel burn and 40% lower noise emissions.  These new aircraft will enable Ryanair to grow to 200m passengers p.a. over the next 5 or 6 years while lowering the cost base and significantly reducing its environmental footprint.

 

BREXIT:

The risk of a no-deal Brexit remains high.  We hope, before the end of the Transition Period in Dec., that the UK and Europe will agree a trade deal to cover air travel which will allow the free movement of people and the deregulated airline market between the UK and Europe to continue.  As an EU airline group, Ryanair should be less affected by a no-deal Brexit than our UK registered competitors. However, we still expect Brexit to cause adverse trading consequences. Ryanair has put the necessary measures in place to ensure that the Group remains majority EU owned, including restricting voting rights of non-EU shareholders, in the event of a “hard-Brexit”. We therefore expect the Group’s AOCs in Austria, Ireland, Malta and Poland to continue to operate freely.  In addition, Ryanair’s UK AOC (Ryanair UK) will be able to benefit from any bilateral agreements negotiated between the UK and non-EU countries while facilitating the operation of domestic UK flights.

 

OUTLOOK:

FY21 will continue to be a hugely challenging year for Ryanair.  Given the current Covid-19 uncertainty, Ryanair cannot provide FY21 PAT guidance at this time.  The Group expects to carry approx. 38m passengers in FY21, although this guidance could be further revised downwards if EU Govts continue to mismanage air travel and impose more uncoordinated travel restrictions or lock downs this winter.  The Group expects to record higher losses in H2 than in H1.

As we look beyond the Covid-19 crisis, and the emergence of effective vaccines in early 2021, the Ryanair Group expects to have a lower cost base, a stronger balance sheet, which will enable it to fund lower fares, and add new lower cost aircraft to capitalise on the many growth opportunities that will be available in all markets across Europe, especially where competitor airlines have substantially cut capacity or failed.

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, is today (Friday, 30^th Oct) launching a spooktacular Halloween offer of 50,000 seats, at €9.99.Treat yourself to a winter break you deserve, a family or friends city break or visit some long lost faces this winter.

Customers have until midnight Halloween night (31^st Oct) to avail of these terrifyingly good fares and must be quick visiting the Ryanair.com website to book their flights as these haunting offers won’t be around for long.

 

Ryanair’s Alejandra Ruiz said:

“We have launched another sale but this one will make you jump out of your seat, offering fares at €9.99 across 50,000 seats for travel during Dec. Customers can book these terrifyingly good fares until midnight 31^st October for travel during the last two months of 2020.

Customers must be quick and visit the Ryanair.com website to book their flights before they disappearrrrr…

Ryanair, Italy’s largest airline, today (22 Oct) announced a +25% increase in domestic flights from Bari airport this Winter, with 17 additional flights every week from 1 December 2020. These additional flights are in response to record demand from Italian consumers, which in turn allows Ryanair to support the local economy and tourism and make it easier for Italian people to visit their friends and relatives.

Ryanair’s Bari Winter ’20 schedule will deliver:

• Over 200 weekly flights across 23 routes.
• 17 new weekly flights:

 

Destination	Weekly Flights
Bologna	10 (+3)
Catania	4 (+4)
Cuneo	2 (+1)
Genoa	3 (+1)
Milan Bergamo	17 (+3)
Trieste	3 (+1)
Turin	9 (+1)
Venice	7 (+3)

 

• Over 1,700 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

Bari consumers and visitors can now book a getaway as far out as October 2021*, flying on the lowest fares to domestic and international destinations including Milan Bergamo, Catania, Budapest, Krakow and Paris Beauvais among many others.

To celebrate, Ryanair has launched a seat sale with fares available from just €4.99, for travel until the end of December, which must be booked by midnight Saturday (24 Oct) only on the Ryanair.com website.

 

Ryanair’s Director of Commercial Jason McGuinness said:

“As Italy’s largest airline, we are delighted to continue to deliver growth to the regions despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Italy has shown incredible resilience throughout this crisis and Ryanair’s growth is a response to extraordinary Italian consumer demand plus Bari airport’s continued work to deliver efficient operations and competitive airport charges.  

During the Covid-19 crisis, national connectivity is more important than ever. We are pleased to announce 17 additional weekly flights to our domestic schedule in Bari, with even more flights to destinations such as Bergamo, Bologna and Catania from 1 December 2020.

To celebrate, we are launching a seat sale with fares available from just €4.99 for travel until the end of December, which must be booked by midnight Saturday (24 Oct). Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”