Ryanair's stock turbulence adds to a bumpy 2022 for airline

More than €3bn wiped off company's value as impact of Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, and staff disputes all take toll

Aside from the war in Ukraine and battling the financial impact of Covid-19, Ryanair is facing staff disputes as many employees prepare to take strike action. Picture: PA

More than €3bn has been shaved off Ryanair’s worth on the open market, according to the Irish stock market’s year-to-date figures.

The company, with a market cap at nearly €13bn, is battling its most recent challenge — the war in Ukraine.

The share price for Europe’s largest airline experienced a brief hike on February 10, when it was at its highest point for this year, as tensions were building in Ukraine.

Then, days before Russia officially invaded Ukraine on February 24, the airline suffered a gradual slump in share price and volume.

While volume picked up again towards the end of the first quarter post-invasion, the share price for the company saw a sharp fall in March compared with its February peak.

Shares slump

Ryanair shares have slumped almost 5% in recent days.

The airline got off to a bad start this year as its annual net losses were within “a wider than normal range” of €250m to €450m, the company stated in recent months.

Aside from the war in Ukraine and battling the financial impact of Covid-19, Ryanair is facing staff disputes as many employees prepare to take strike action.

Ryanair staff in Italy, Portugal, and Spain plan to strike against their employer in late June.

Spanish Ryanair cabin-crew unions are preparing to strike in late June and early July after pay talks fell apart.

Workers to strike

These workers are set to strike on June 24, 25, 26, and 30, as well as on July 1 and 2, officials for the main Spanish crew unions USO and SITCPLA said in a press conference in Madrid.

Italian unions representing the Ryanair staff prepared to take strike action say that they are also expecting employees with the airline in France and Belgium to take similar action.

The strikes come as employees in the aviation industry are experiencing first hand the impact of post-pandemic staff shortages across European airports.

Closer to home, these staff shortages have led to ongoing headaches for staff and passengers in Dublin Airport. The chaos in Ireland came to a head during the last weekend in May when more than 1,000 passengers missed their flights from Dublin due to delays.

Staff shortages in Dublin Airport at the end of May saw more than 1,000 passengers miss their flights due to delays. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

The flight delays have caused a domino effect of other problems  such as baggage arriving later than its owners. In one instance, people coming from Calgary to Dublin Airport in recent weeks had to wait hours to receive their luggage, according to various posts on social media.

Yet, the company’s chief executive Michael O’Leary is optimistic about airline activity this year as he recently told Reuters that it has “seen very strong bookings through May”.

“We had 92% load factor in May. We think that would rise to about 94% in June," said Mr O'Leary.

July, August, and September look very strong with higher load factors and also higher fares.

He said that holidaymakers should expect fares to increase by 7% to 9% compared to summer 2019.