Ryanair is known for cheap ticket prices. The strong demand in times of high inflation led to a passenger record. The airline wants to transport even more people in the future. What does this mean for the aviation industry?
The corona pandemic brought huge problems for airlines worldwide: the borders closed, the planes stayed on the ground. But now the machines are working at full capacity again. The low-cost airline Ryanair carried more people than ever before in the past financial year: it was almost 169 million. The Irish group intends to further increase this number.
capacity losses and price increases after pandemic
The situation is different with the competition on the cheap market. The British easyjet or the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings are finding it much more difficult to reach or even exceed the level before the pandemic.
Overall, there are fewer aircraft on the German market than before the pandemic, reports aviation analyst Patrick Schuchter from Union Investment. “Capacities have fallen by 20 percent. That means there are 20 percent fewer potential seats for us as consumers, which means that prices have of course risen extremely sharply.”
According to Schuchter, not only Ryanair benefits from this competitive situation, but above all Lufthansa. In addition, smaller or new applicants have difficulties in getting hold of aircraft at all.
supply chain chaos at Boeing and Airbus
The pandemic has messed up the supply chains at Boeing and Airbus – the two big manufacturers: “This means that deliveries are being delayed, which Ryanair also reported today – and said that could lower their passenger target a bit this year because too few aircraft are being delivered by Boeing. And accordingly, I don’t think that many new competitors will be able to enter the aviation market because the aircraft are simply not available,” says Schuchter.
Established airlines such as Ryanair or Lufthansa, on the other hand, can fall back on their existing fleet. It’s a worthwhile business: both airlines are back in the black after the tough Corona years – also on the stock exchange. Both the papers of the crane airline and those of the Irish cheap competitor were able to increase in value by more than a quarter within six months.