Ryanair boss O'Leary sees no sign of recession

Air fares will keep rising, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary predicted, because capacity within the European air travel market remains constrained.

The airline is expecting a very strong summer season, betting that average European short-haul air fares will jump by a high single-digit percentage.

Low-cost carrier Ryanair is not seeing any signs of recession, CEO Michael O'Leary said, pointing to two weeks of record bookings this January and a recovery in demand from Britain.

January blues helped drive holiday bookings, Mr O'Leary told reporters in London, noting that his airline, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, took more than 2m bookings last weekend, its most ever in a two-day period.

Referring to talk of a looming recession in Britain and a slowdown elsewhere in Europe, Mr O'Leary said "we see no signs of it at the moment".

The strongest market for those bookings was for flights from Britain to European destinations, such as Spain and Portugal over Easter and summer, he said, in a reversal from earlier in January when the airline flagged softer demand from the UK.

"There just seems to be very strong demand out there and people, I think, worrying that prices are going to rise in summer, which I think they will, and people getting in early and booking their Easter and summer travel," he said.

The airline is expecting a very strong summer season, betting that average European short-haul air fares will jump by a high single-digit percentage.

Appetite for holidays is resilient despite the economic slowdown from high inflation because people no longer see holidays as a luxury, said Mr O'Leary. 

Airfares will keep rising, Mr O'Leary predicted, because capacity within the European air travel market remains constrained.