Ryanair posts $369m annual loss, eyes return to ‘reasonable profitability’

Ryanair on Monday posted a E355m loss for the pandemic-hit 12 months to end-March, but said it was impossible to accurately forecast anything beyond hoping for a return to “reasonable profitability” this year. The Irish airline, which is operating more flights than any other European airline according to air traffic regulator Eurocontrol, said it planned to grow its traffic to 165m passengers this year, up from 97m a year ago and a pre-Covid-19 record of 149m. However, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said it was “impractical, if not impossible” to provide a sensible or accurate profit guidance range at this time given the potential continued risk the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 poses to booking. “This recovery remains fragile,” O’Leary said in a statement. He added that while bookings have improved in recent weeks, Q1 pricing continued to need stimulation. Ryanair is cautiously optimistic that peak summer fares would be somewhat ahead of pre-pandemic levels due to pent-up demand. The full-year pre-exceptional loss of E355m was less than a forecast loss of E370m in a company poll of analysts and a loss of E1b in its previous financial year. The airline made a profit of E1b in the year to March 2020.<br/>