Ryanair reports surge in late summer bookings on more signs of recovery

Signs of a long-awaited recovery in European aviation are growing after Ryanair reported a “surge” in late summer bookings and raised its forecast for passenger numbers over the next year. The low-cost carrier said the rebound was down to vaccinations, the introduction of an EU-wide digital travel pass at the start of this month and the rollback of isolation rules for vaccinated travellers in the UK. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CE, predicted a recovery in air travel over the winter and into next summer. “We have seen a strong rebound in pent-up travel demand,” he said. The carrier’s upbeat outlook mirrors rival easyJet, which last week said it would increase the number of flights it operates over the late summer in response to strong bookings, particularly from continental Europe. Heathrow airport also on Monday said the UK was “emerging from the worst effects” of the pandemic but said the country was lagging behind a quicker recovery in continental Europe. The industry has been desperate for any signs of a sustained rebound in demand for flying following 15 months of mounting losses. Ryanair produced a net loss of E273m in the three months to the end of June, with Easter largely a write-off. This compared with a net loss of E185m in the same quarter last year. The airline carried 8.1m passengers in the quarter, but outlined how flying has since rapidly rebounded, with 9m passengers forecast for July and 10m for August. Ryanair was taking 2m bookings per week in June, four times more than in March.<br/>