The Irish airline had actually expected prices to remain the same or even rise slightly. But things turned out differently.
Europe’s largest low-cost airline, Ryanair, earned significantly less at the start of its financial year than in the previous year due to lower flight prices. The company is also cautious about the second quarter of the business year. Pricing is difficult and ticket prices are likely to be significantly lower than a year ago, the Irish company announced in Dublin. The airline had previously expected prices to remain the same or rise slightly.
In the first quarter of the business year, ticket prices fell by an average of 15 percent, it was reported. Unlike last year, the busy Easter holidays fell in March. The airline also had to offer customers higher discounts than planned. The bottom line for the three months to the end of June was a surplus of 360 million euros. A year earlier, the Easyjet competitor had achieved a surplus of just under 663 million euros.
More passengers – but less aircraft utilization
In the months April to June, Ryanair counted around 55.5 million passengers, ten percent more than a year earlier. The company wants to increase the number of passengers in the current financial year by eight percent to 198 to 200 million passengers.
Machine utilization deteriorated from 95 to 94 percent in the three months to the end of June, and sales shrank slightly by one percent to 3.63 billion euros.
The result for the first half of the year now depends on bookings and earnings in August and September. The management team led by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary did not want to give a precise profit forecast.
The share came under pressure in the morning before trading. The low-cost airline missed even the most pessimistic estimates and is now much more pessimistic about ticket prices in the current quarter than before, wrote analyst Harry Gowers from JPMorgan Bank. Accordingly, market expectations for profits are likely to fall significantly.
Source: Stern
