Holidaymakers to face higher air fares, warns Ryanair's Michael O'Leary

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary predicted that Ryanair's ticket prices will be up to 10% more expensive this summer compared with the same period last year. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Holidaymakers will face higher air fares this summer because of capacity constraints, the boss of Ryanair has warned.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said issues limiting the number of available aircraft mean European airlines will struggle to meet demand for travel during the peak season.

He predicted that Ryanair's ticket prices will be up to 10% more expensive this summer compared with the same period last year.

Mr O'Leary said this is because the carrier's growth in passenger numbers will be lower than expected because Boeing's new aircraft deliveries are being delayed.

Ryanair's original forecast for the year to the end of March 2025 was that it would carry 205m passengers, up from 183.5m during the previous 12 months.

Mr O'Leary told reporters at the carrier's Dublin headquarters: 

With less aircraft, maybe we'll have to bring that 205 million down towards 200 million passengers. It might be a scratch below 200 million, we just don't know at this stage.

"That probably means that even our growth this year is going to be constrained in Europe, and I think that leads to a higher fare environment across Europe for summer 2024," said Mr O'Leary.

He added that fares in summer 2024 are going to be up again on summer 2023. 

"Our average air fares in summer 2023 rose 17%,” he said.

"We don't think we'll see that kind of double-digit fare increase this year,” said Mr O’Leary.

Ryanair has a contract with Boeing for the delivery of 57 new planes by the end of March next year but he expects to only receive 40 to 45 by then.

Major concerns have been raised about quality control for new Boeing aircraft, since a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines suffered a mid-air blowout on January 5, sparking a limit in production speed.

Meanwhile, it was announced in July last year than more than 1,000 Pratt & Whitney-built engines would need to be removed from Airbus aircraft due to a safety recall.

Mr O'Leary predicted that airlines such as Wizz Air, Lufthansa and Air France "will be grounding upwards of 20% of their A320 fleets" because of this.

• PA