Bit of turbulence but airline will weather the storm

An already hot and sticky summer for Ryanair became even more clammy yesterday, as the airline lowered its profit forecasts with fewer passenger bookings — largely due to the recent nice weather in northern Europe.

Merely a week after being told to sell almost all of its near 30% interest in Aer Lingus, Ryanair’s management now has to wrestle with the, frankly, outlandish notion that millions of people have recently decided to stay at home and enjoy the overdue domestic summer rather than sweat it out on a Ryanair flight — thus sacrificing the chance of winning big on the in-flight scratch-cards or arguing over baggage size with attendants.

In reality, the downbeat outlook is based more on a weakening sterling/euro exchange rate and increased price competition, as well as the general poor economic climate that still prevails across the continent. Nevertheless, yesterday’s communiqué was met with mixed analyst reaction, amid a clamour to put things into perspective.