Article from BTNews 27 MAY 2019
Ryanair in dive
Following a none too impressive set of results by easyJet (see BTN 20 May) arch rival Ryanair has also come up with some disappointing figures.
The Dublin-based airline (which is also British-registered) reported last week a profit after tax of €1.02bn (£892m) for the year to 31 March, down from €1.45bn the previous year. The figures exclude a €139.5m loss related to Laudamotion, the Austrian budget airline Ryanair took full control of in January. Including the Austrian business, profits were down 30% at €948m.
Average air fares tumbled 6% to €37 per passenger, as the number of passengers rose by 7% to 139m. Ryanair’s staff bill rose by €200m, including a 20% pay increase for pilots, and it paid out €50m in compensation due to air traffic control strikes and personnel shortages.
Michael O’Leary continued with his mantra that airlines will continue to fail and that consolidation would follow, perhaps forgetting that was always the case in the airline business. Norwegian Airlines and Thomas Cook are “the two obvious ones hanging on by their fingernails”, the airline chief said, adding that their failure would have a “seismic” effect on the market.
For the future fuel price increases and a delay on the introduction of the Boeing Max are seen as a problem.
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Barry Graham, Washington, DC
This is not the first time Ryanair has struggled and just as they have in the past, they will survive. That's my prediction. As much as they are not my type of airline, I admire them for what they have done.