Ryanair swings to first-half profit and raises passenger forecast
Ryanair has given further evidence of its strong recovery from the pandemic, swinging to a first-half profit and raising its full-year passenger forecast. Europe’s biggest low-cost airline on Monday reported pre-tax profit of E1.42b for the six months to September 30, against a E100m loss in the same period last year. It also forecast a return to full-year profitability for the first time since the start of Covid-19 restrictions. It is expecting post-tax profits of between E1b and E1.2b for its 2022-23 fiscal year, with losses in the quieter second half of the year cancelling out some of the first-half profits. Ryanair has been relatively unaffected by the operational problems and the Heathrow airport passenger restrictions that affected some rivals over the summer. Its revenues for the half year were E6.62b, three times the E2.15b for the six months to September 30 last year, when airlines were still affected by coronavirus restrictions. The figure is 23 per cent higher than for the same period in 2019. It has also increased its forecast for passenger traffic for the year to March 31 to 168m, from 166.5m. CE Michael O’Leary said Ryanair was experiencing “surprisingly strong bookings” for the current, third quarter of the year. He said that he thought booking levels reflected a mixture of gains from rivals such as easyJet that have cut back operations and trading down by cost-conscious travellers. “There’s still a risk of adverse news on Covid or Ukraine,” O’Leary said. “But, without any negative developments, we’re seeing very strong forward bookings, which is unusual given the nervousness. There’s no evidence in our forward bookings of the nervousness about recession.”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-11-09/unaligned/ryanair-swings-to-first-half-profit-and-raises-passenger-forecast
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Ryanair swings to first-half profit and raises passenger forecast
Ryanair has given further evidence of its strong recovery from the pandemic, swinging to a first-half profit and raising its full-year passenger forecast. Europe’s biggest low-cost airline on Monday reported pre-tax profit of E1.42b for the six months to September 30, against a E100m loss in the same period last year. It also forecast a return to full-year profitability for the first time since the start of Covid-19 restrictions. It is expecting post-tax profits of between E1b and E1.2b for its 2022-23 fiscal year, with losses in the quieter second half of the year cancelling out some of the first-half profits. Ryanair has been relatively unaffected by the operational problems and the Heathrow airport passenger restrictions that affected some rivals over the summer. Its revenues for the half year were E6.62b, three times the E2.15b for the six months to September 30 last year, when airlines were still affected by coronavirus restrictions. The figure is 23 per cent higher than for the same period in 2019. It has also increased its forecast for passenger traffic for the year to March 31 to 168m, from 166.5m. CE Michael O’Leary said Ryanair was experiencing “surprisingly strong bookings” for the current, third quarter of the year. He said that he thought booking levels reflected a mixture of gains from rivals such as easyJet that have cut back operations and trading down by cost-conscious travellers. “There’s still a risk of adverse news on Covid or Ukraine,” O’Leary said. “But, without any negative developments, we’re seeing very strong forward bookings, which is unusual given the nervousness. There’s no evidence in our forward bookings of the nervousness about recession.”<br/>
