Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (5 Mar) released February traffic statistics as follows:

– Traffic grew 5% to 8.6m customers.
– Load factor remains strong at 95%
– Rolling annual traffic to February grew 9% to 130m customers.

	Feb 17	Feb 18	Change
Customers	8.2M	8.6M	+5%
Load Factor	95%	95%	–

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Ryanair’s February traffic grew by 5% to 8.6m customers, while our load factor remains strong at 95%, on the back of lower fares.

Ryanair customers can look forward to more low fares and an improved customer experience in 2018 as we roll out more AGB improvements, so we urge all customers who wish to book their summer 2018 holidays to do so now on the Ryanair.com website or mobile app”.

 

Erasmus Students Save Over €3.3m So Far Wth Ryanair

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (27 Feb) celebrated passing 100,000 bookings by Erasmus Student Network members on its exclusive dedicated platform.

Delivered as part of Ryanair’s “Always Getting Better” programme, this partnership offers Erasmus students a dedicated ESN booking platform where they can avail of 15% flight discounts on the Ryanair.com website, and a free checked-in bag with every flight booked, saving ESN members an average of €33 per flight.

Since launching in August 2017, over 100,000 ESN students have now saved over €3.3m with students from Milan, Madrid and Porto making the most bookings, and Germany, Portugal, Italy and Poland among the most popular destinations.

Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs said:

“We are pleased to have passed 100,000 bookings on our Erasmus Student Network platform, which offers university students across Europe a range of exclusive flight offers, free bags and tailored discounts to suit their budget. These 100,000 students have saved over €3.3m with Ryanair so far, and we hope many more ESN students will avail of these fantastic discounts over the coming months and years.  Any Erasmus student with a valid ESN card can sign up via the “MyRyanair” registration service and save even more while they travel on Europe’s biggest airline with the widest route network and the lowest fares.”

President of Erasmus Student Network, João Pinto said:

“Erasmus students have benefited immensely from this partnership – proof of it are the 100,000 bookings generated since the platform was launched 6 months ago. Our cooperation with Ryanair has also helped the Erasmus Student Network to enhance the importance of travelling as a way to propitiate knowledge, intercultural understanding and self-development among the Erasmus Generation and beyond.”

 

For more information visit https://www.ryanair.com/ie/en/plan-trip/explore/erasmus

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (14 Feb) released its January 2018 customer service statistics, which confirm that Ryanair remains Europe’s No 1 customer service airline with:

– 87% of over 54,000 flights in January arriving on-time (up 1%)

– Just 3 complaints per 1,000 customers

– Just 1 bag complaint per 3,000 customers

– Over 99% of all complaints answered within 7 days

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Ryanair carried 9.3 million customers in January with 87% of more than 54,000 flights arriving on-time, an improvement of 1% on January 2017.  With our expanding route network and additional enhancements, including those recently announced as part of our 2018 “Always Getting Better” programme, Ryanair continues to deliver much more for our customers than just the lowest fares in Europe.”

 

January	2017	2018
On-time flights	86%	87%
Complaints per 1,000 pax	2.15	3.03
Bag complaints per 1,000 pax	0.67	0.39
Complaints answered within 7 days	99%	99%

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Feb. 5) reported a 12% rise in Q3 profit to €106m as average fares fell 4% to just €32 per customer.  Traffic grew 6% to 30.4m with load factors up 1% to 96%. Unit costs fell 1% (ex-fuel unit costs rose 3%).

Q3 Results (IFRS)	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2017	% Change
Customers (m)	28.8	30.4	+6%
Revenue (m)	€1,345	€1,405	+4%
Profit after Tax (m)	€95	€106	+12%
Net Margin	7%	8%	+1pt
Basic EPS	€0.0760	€0.0893	+17%

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“We are pleased to report this 12% increase in profits during a very challenging Q3.  Following our pilot rostering failure in Sept., the painful decision to ground 25 aircraft ensured that punctuality of our operations quickly returned to our normal 90% average.  Our AGB customer service programme, coupled with 4% lower fares, stimulated 6% traffic growth to 30.4m at an industry leading 96% load factor.

After 30 years of successfully dealing directly with our people it became clear in Dec. that a majority of pilots wanted to be represented by unions.  In keeping with our policy to recognise unions when the majority of our people wanted it, we have met pilot unions in Ireland, UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and France to discuss how we can work with them on behalf of our people. We have successfully concluded our first recognition agreement with BALPA in the UK, a market which accounts for over 25% of our pilots.  When this process has completed, we expect to have similar engagement with cabin crew unions.  While union recognition may add some complexity to our business and may cause short-term disruptions and negative PR it will not alter our cost leadership in European aviation, or change our plan to grow to 200m traffic p.a. by Mar. 2024.  Our aircraft allocations may alter by base as we capitalise on new growth opportunities in France and Scandinavia.

New Bases & Routes:

In Q3 we took delivery of 9 new B737-800’s.  European airline consolidation and bankruptcies are providing more growth opportunities in the UK, Italy and Germany in particular.  In Nov. we opened a base in Poznan (Poland) and in Mar. 2018 we open our 87^th base in Burgas (Bulgaria).  We recently announced flights to Jordan, our 34^th country. Ryanair’s flight connections service was extended (in Jan.) to Porto following their initial success at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Bergamo.

Costs, Fuel Hedging & Balance Sheet:

Ryanair enjoys significant cost leadership over other airlines in Europe.  In Q3 unit costs fell 1%.  Ex-fuel, unit costs increased by 3% primarily due to higher staff and EU261 costs arising from the Sept. rostering failure and our decision to cancel flights in Sept. & Oct. Staff costs will rise this year by an additional €45m as we roll out pilot pay increases of up to 20% and raise our crewing ratios in response to a tightening market for experienced pilots. Staff costs accounted for 10% of total revenue last year and we will not allow our industry leading productivity to decline.  Our cost advantage on other (non-fuel) cost lines is significantly better than competitors and will continue to improve over the coming years as we take delivery of 210 B737-MAX-200 aircraft from April 2019.  These “Gamechangers” have 4% more seat capacity, are 16% more fuel efficient and have 40% less noise emissions.  Our capex on the MAX-200 is hedged at an average rate of $1.24.

We recently concluded a 10-year maintenance contract with CFM for our B737-800 engines which will deliver substantial annual savings, as will our recent 7 simulator order with CAE, which will double our pilot training capacity over the next 3 years.  Q4 fuel is 90% hedged at approx. $49bbl and FY19 is 70% hedged at just over $55bbl, well below current spot prices of c.$70bbl.

Our balance sheet remains strong having generated over €1bn net cash from operating activities year-to-date.  In the first 9 months of FY18 we have spent €1bn on capex, €639m on share buybacks and repaid over €300m of debt. The Board has approved a €750m share buyback of ordinary shares which will start in Feb. and, subject to market conditions, should be completed by the end of Oct. This latest buyback will increase the funds returned to shareholders since 2008 to over €6bn.

Ancillaries, Labs & Customer Initiatives:

Ancillary Revenue grew 12% in Q3.  “My Ryanair” is on track to reach 40m members by Mar. 2018. The number of customers choosing “Plus” fares, reserved seating and priority boarding continues to rise. Ryanair Rooms recently launched travel credits making Ryanair.com the “go to” accommodation website for lowest hotel prices.  In Nov. we opened our new Labs office in Madrid where we plan to employ up to 250 highly skilled IT developers over the next 18 months. From Jan., our customers are enjoying a bigger (20kg) checked bag allowance at lower bag check-in fees.   We expect to improve the boarding experience, and on-time-performance, with the rollout of our new cabin bag policy, whereby priority boarding customers can bring 2 free carry-on bags (1 wheelie and 1 small bag) onboard, while all other customers still bring 2 carry-on bags free of charge but the larger wheelie bag will travel in the hold rather than in the cabin. We expect this improvement will substantially reduce flight delays due to bag offloads.

Brexit:

We remain concerned at the continuing uncertainty surrounding the terms of the UK’s proposed departure from the EU in Mar. 2019. There remains a worrying risk of serious disruption to UK-EU flights from Apr. 2019 unless a UK-EU bilateral (or transitional arrangement) is agreed in advance of Sept. 2018. We, like other airlines, need clarity on this issue before we publish our summer 2019 schedules in mid-2018 and time is running out for the UK to develop and agree these solutions. We believe the UK government continues to under-estimate the likelihood of flight disruptions to/from the UK.  We have applied to the UK CAA for a UK air operator’s certificate (“AOC”) as part of our Brexit contingency planning.  We expect this process to take several months but to be complete well in advance of Sept. 2018.

FY18 Outlook:  

Our outlook for the remainder of FY18 is cautious.  As we finalise union discussions along similar lines to that agreed in the UK, we expect some localised disruptions and adverse PR so investors should be prepared for same. In certain jurisdictions unions representing competitor airlines will wish to test our commitment to our low cost, high pay/high productivity model to disrupt our operations.  We are fully prepared to face down any such disruption if it means defending our cost base or our high productivity model.

We now expect full year traffic to grow 8% to 130m (from 129m previously guided).  The final FY18 fare outcome depends on close-in Easter bookings (half of which falls in Q4).  We expect FY18 fares will fall by at least 3%.  Ancillary spend per customer should rise by 2%. Unit costs were adversely impacted by €25m non-recurring EU261 costs in Q2, and €45m additional staff costs in H2.  While oil prices have risen in H2, we still expect FY18 unit costs to be down 2%. Accordingly, we maintain our full year guidance in a range of €1.40bn to €1.45bn.  This guidance depends heavily on the absence of union disruptions, unforeseen security events and close-in Easter bookings.

Early Indications FY19:

While we have practically zero visibility on FY19 fares, and our budget is not yet finalised, we do not share the optimism of competitors and market commentators for summer 2018 fare rises.  Our traffic will grow by 6% in FY19 to 138m but very early indications are that summer 2018 fares will remain under pressure.  Costs will rise next year as our fuel bill increases by over €300m and a further €100m is added to staff costs (as up to 20% pilot pay increases annualise).  The lack of clarity on Brexit continues to overhang fares and pricing on routes to/from the UK. We would, even at this early date, urge extreme caution on investor & analyst assumptions for fares in FY19. We will provide a more detailed FY19 guidance during our full-year results and investor roadshow in May 2018.”

LF Rises 1% To 91% On Lower Fares

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (2 Feb) released January traffic statistics as follows:
– Traffic grew 6% to 9.3m customers.
– Load factor rose 1% point to 91%
– Rolling annual traffic to January grew 9% to 129m customers.

	Jan 17	Jan 18	Change
Customers	8.8M	9.3M	+6%
Load Factor	90%	91%	+1%

 

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Ryanair’s January traffic grew by 6% to 9.3m customers, while our load factor jumped 1% to 91%, on the back of lower fares.

Ryanair customers can look forward to more low fares and an improved customer experience in 2018 as we roll out more AGB improvements, so we urge all customers who wish to book their summer 2018 holidays to do so now on the Ryanair.com website or mobile app”.

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (31 Jan) unveiled its 2018 “Always Getting Better” plan which forms Year 5 of its customer experience improvement programme, including service, digital, ancillary and environmental developments. The new initiatives to be rolled out over the coming year include:

– Price Promise – find a cheaper fare and we’ll refund the difference + €5 to your My Ryanair account
– Punctuality Promise – 90% of our flights will be on time
– Simple Bag Policy – 2 free cabin bag remains + increased checked bag size for less (€25 for 20kg)
– Dedicated Claims Team – valid EU261 claims processed in 10 days
– Greenest Airline – will be plastic free in next 5 years; carbon offset scheme for customers
– Ryanair Rooms with Travel Credit – money off flights when you book hotels
– Ryanair Transfers – wider choice of ground transport with new partner Car Trawler
– Connecting Flights – at Rome, Milan & Porto, plus long-haul connections
– ‘Try Somewhere New’ – exclusive content on Ryanair.com; travel guides & video in 7 languages

In London, Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs said:

“As Europe’s favourite airline, we will carry 129m customers this year and continue to be the world’s most visited airline website. The “Always Getting Better” programme, launched over four years ago, continues to go from strength to strength and we are pleased to unveil the 2018 AGB Plan today with an exciting range of environmental, service, digital, and ancillary initiatives.

We are very pleased to announce our Environmental plan which includes our commitment to eliminate all non-recyclable plastics from our operations over the next five years. For customers on board, this will mean initiatives such as a switch to wooden cutlery, bio-degradable coffee cups, and the removal of plastics from our range of in-flight products We will also introduce a scheme to allow customers to offset the carbon cost of their flight through a voluntary climate charity donation online.

We are also unveiling “Try Somewhere New”, a unique travel hub on the Ryanair website, hosting exclusive travel guides and destination videos in 7 languages.

While we continue to innovate, the one thing that won’t change will be our low fares – which we promise will not be beaten – and European customers will still enjoy the biggest and best choice of destinations, with the most on-time flights and a fantastic onboard experience, as we grow our fleet, traffic and routes.”

10 New Summer Routes Added With Extra Flights On Existing Routes

Over 300,000 Extra Summer Seats On Sale Tomorrow

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (25 Jan) announced an additional investment of $300 million at Manchester airport with an extra three based aircraft for its peak summer 2018 schedule (June-September) as it added 10 new summer routes to Agadir, Almeria, Barcelona Reus, Belfast, Cagliari, Palermo, Ponta Delgada, Porto, Rhodes, & Venice Treviso and more flights on existing routes. Ryanair’s summer 2018 Manchester schedule will now add 300,000 extra seats to a total of 57 routes which will help deliver 4.9 million customers this year.

Ryanair’s enhanced Manchester summer schedule will see more frequencies to sun destinations for summer family holidays, on even lower fares, and an even better customer experience, as it rolls it’s 2018 “Always Getting Better” customer experience programme, and will deliver:

– 12 based aircraft at Manchester
– Including an extra 3 new based aircraft which is a total Ryanair investment of $1.2 billion at Manchester
– 57 summer routes in total
-10 new summer routes to: Agadir (2 wkly), Almeria (2 wkly), Barcelona Reus (2 wkly), Belfast (daily from March), Cagliari (2 wkly), Palermo (2 wkly) Ponta Delgada (1 wkly), Porto (3 wkly), Rhodes (2 wkly), & Venice Treviso (3 wkly)
-More flights to:       Alicante, Bologna, Chania, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Malaga, Mallorca, Naples & Tenerife
– 300,000 extra summer seats
– 9m customers p.a.
– 3,675 “on-site” jobs p.a.

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Ryanair is delighted to announce an additional investment of $300 million at Manchester with three extra based aircraft for our peak summer 2018 schedule, bringing the total investment at Manchester to $1.2bn. We will deliver an exciting set of 10 new Manchester summer routes, some of which are connecting with Manchester for the first time, and add an extra 300,000 summer seats to the schedule. These new summer routes will go on sale on Ryanair.com from tomorrow (Friday 26 Jan).

Over the past four years, Manchester has been one of our fastest growing bases in the UK and this year summer numbers will grow again by a further 9%. Ryanair will continue to connect Manchester with major leisure and business centres on high frequency, low fare services including Dublin (5 daily), Madrid (daily) and Rome (10 wkly) with better timings and lower fares, making Ryanair the ideal choice for Manchester business and leisure customers.

To celebrate our summer expansion, we are releasing seats for sale from just €19.99, which are available for booking until midnight Sunday (28 Jan) for travel until April. Since these amazing low prices will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”

Manchester Airport’s Aviation Director, Julian Carr, said:

“We are pleased to see Ryanair add three additional aircraft to Manchester Airport. As well as increasing its route network and options for passengers, it also creates jobs for people here in the North West.

We look forward to the routes starting and the added international connectivity they offer our 27.8m passengers.”