Ryanair's passenger traffic in March tops pre-pandemic levels

Mon, 04 Apr, 2022 - 16:55

Alan Healy

Ryanair says it expects losses for the financial year of €350m to €400m despite a strong recovery in passenger numbers.

Europe's largest airline had previously forecast losses of €250m to €450m for the year ending March 31, 2022. The expected annual loss would be an improvement on the €815m after-tax loss recorded in 2021.

Briefing the markets yesterday, the airline said it carried more than 97m passengers in the past 12 months which is more than three times the number in 2021 but still below the pre-Covid level of 149m. However, passenger traffic last month surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Ryanair said it had flown 11.2m people in March compared to just 0.5m during lockdown a year ago and 10.9m in March 2019.

It said the figures include the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine which caused the cancellation of 2,000 flights and the ongoing suspension of activity in Ukraine, where it is one of the largest foreign operators. The airline also said its balance sheet is one of the strongest in the aviation industry. Net debt dropped to €1.5bn from €2.3bn, the previous year and around 90% of the group’s fleet aircraft are unencumbered.

Ahead of what chief executive Michael O'Leary has called the critical Easter holiday period, Ryanair's load factor (a measure of how well an airline is filling available seats) nudged up to 87% in March, in line with a forecast he made in January of almost 90% by April.

The airline also said it had increased its fuel hedging to 80% cover for 2023, with around 65% locked-in at $630 (€575) per metric tonne through jet swaps (a hedging tool) and 15% caps at $775. Ryanair had previously hedged 80% of its needs for the first half of 2023 and 70% for the second half.

Ryanair plans to operate a significantly expanded route network for the peak summer season. The airline will have 65 new aircraft in its fleet and its capacity will be around 114% of pre-pandemic levels. It also said the new aircraft will widen the cost gap between Ryanair and all other European airlines for the next decade. From a pre-Covid annual traffic of 149m, it now expects to increase by 50% to over 225m passengers by 2026.