Ryanair posts first quarterly profit since late 2019

Ryanair reported its first quarterly profit since before the onset of COVID-19, but said it expects to post an annual loss of up to E200m as it would be forced to discount tickets to fill its planes over the winter. The Irish airline, which operated more flights this summer than its European rivals, reported on Monday an after-tax loss of E48m for the six months to September. A company poll of analysts had forecast a loss of E43m. While it did not break out its after-tax profit for the three months ended September, its Q2, the E273m loss it reported in Q1 implies a Q2 profit of E225m. That marks its first quarterly profit since October-December, 2019 - before the pandemic disrupted travel. The budget airline, Europe’s largest, carried 39.1m passengers in the six months ended September, 54% fewer than in the same period of 2019. Ryanair is expected to turn in a loss of between E100m and E200m for the financial year, which ends on March 31, Group CE Michael O’Leary said, adding that there was extremely little visibility. O’Leary, who has said the pandemic offers the best growth opportunities of his three-decade career, in September lifted the Ryanair’s five-year growth target to fly 225 passengers a year by 2026, from 200m previously forecast. Ryanair nudged up its passenger target for its financial year to March 2022 to “just over” 100m. It flew 149m passengers a year before the pandemic.<br/>