Returned desire to travel: Ryanair expects more passengers

The low-cost airline Ryanair made a record profit in the summer. In winter, too, the airline hopes to benefit from the greater price awareness of many people. She has raised her passenger forecast.

Europe’s largest low-cost airline Ryanair has flown record profits on the back of a strong recovery in travel business. For the first half of the financial year to September, which began on April 1, Ryanair generated a surplus of 1.37 billion euros. That is around six percent more than in the previous record half-year 2017 – long before the corona crisis. The airline announced that half-year sales had tripled to 6.6 billion euros.

Low-cost airlines in demand during the crisis

Like all other airlines, Ryanair also assumes that the desire to travel will continue – although people have less money in their pockets due to rising prices. Recession and inflation did not scare him, says Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary in the BBC: “In Ryanair’s 30 years of business, we’ve been through three or four recessions. And when a recession comes, people don’t stop flying, they look for the cheapest operator and that’s Ryanair.” This also applies to brands such as IKEA, Aldi or Lidl. “Cheap providers gain during recessions. People don’t change their habits, but they become more price conscious.”

Ten percent more seats than before Corona in winter

For this reason, Ryanair will offer ten percent more seats in winter than before the pandemic, while most competitors in the European Union are reducing capacities. “Business trips have picked up again, but people are also traveling for work with Christmas in mind. It’s the first time in three years that people can visit friends and family freely – and there’s a lot of interest,” said O’Leary.

While most competing airlines had to cancel massive flights in summer due to a lack of staff in flight operations, Ryanair was able to sell more tickets than before the outbreak of the pandemic. The airline raised its passenger forecast for the full fiscal year ending in March 2023 slightly to 168 million – a significant increase compared to the peak of 149 million customers before the pandemic.

Criticism of personnel policy

While the reduction of CO2 emissions is being negotiated at the world climate summit in Egypt, O’Leary praises its aircraft fleet as – in comparison – environmentally friendly: “Air travel is very important for islands like Ireland or Great Britain. That’s why people should continue to fly, but for For example, switch to our fleet with young machines that have lower CO2 emissions.”

Ryanair is repeatedly criticized for its personnel policy. Only some of the pilots are permanently employed, the rest are bogus self-employed who have to offer their pilot services through an agency. Cabin crews are also sent on compulsory leave as needed. In the wake of the Corona crisis, Ryanair employees had to accept severe cuts. It was only in September that pilots complained in an open letter to O’Leary that they were still getting less salary than before the Corona crisis.