Ryanair Reports H1 Loss Of €48m As Traffic Rebounds At Lower Fares

Ryanair Holdings today (1 Nov.) reported a H1 loss of €48m, compared to a PY H1 loss of €411m. Highlights of this 6-month period include:

• H1 traffic rebounded by 128% from 17.1m to 39.1m.
• 1^st B737-8200 “Gamechanger” delivered in June (65+ for peak S.22).
• Customer Advisory Panel 1^st met in Sept.
• €1.2bn 5-year unsecured bond issued in May at record low 0.875% coupon.
• Strong Sept. cash balance of €4.24bn (up from €3.15bn at 31 Mar.).
• Net debt fell from €2.28bn at 31 Mar. to €1.50bn at 30 Sept. (CCFF £600m loan repaid in Oct).
• 560 new routes & 14 new bases announced for W.21/S.22.
• 5-year growth accelerates to 225m p.a. by FY26 (prev. 200m p.a.).

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, said:

OUR ENVIRONMENT: Ryanair has shown we can grow traffic while reducing our impact on the environment.  Every passenger that switches to Ryanair from legacy airlines reduces their CO₂ emissions by up to 50% per flight.  Over the next 5-years our traffic will grow by 50% to 225m p.a.  This will be achieved on a fleet of new B737 “Gamechanger” aircraft, which offer 4% more seats, but consume 16% less fuel and cuts noise emissions by 40%, which helps to lower each passenger’s CO₂ and noise footprint over the next decade.

We continue to work with the EU, our fuel suppliers and aircraft manufacturers to incentivise sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) use.  We are working with A4E and the EU Commission to accelerate reform of the Single European Sky, to minimise ATC delays which will lower fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions.  Last year Ryanair received an industry leading “B-” climate protection rating from CDP[1], and we are committed to improving this to an “A” rating over the next 2 years.  In April, we established a Sustainable Aviation Research Centre partnership with Trinity College Dublin to accelerate the development of SAFs.  Ryanair’s goal is to power 12.5% of our flights with SAF by 2030.  These initiatives will help Ryanair achieve our target of cutting CO₂ per passenger/km by 10% to just 60 grams by 2030.

Our growth plans over the next 5 years will create 5,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers.  Ryanair recently invested €50m in an Aviation Skills Training Centre in Dublin and we plan to invest over €100m in 2 more, high skills, training centres in possibly Spain and Poland during this period.

In Sept. our Customer Advisory Panel met for the first time in Dublin. This Panel will meet again in the spring and their advice and input will shape Ryanair’s customer improvements for 2022, reinforcing our commitment to delivering the lowest fares, the most on-time flights and a great customer service as the Group stimulates very strong post Covid-19 growth. We have already implemented a number of their suggestions, including a Day of Travel feature in the Ryanair App to assist customers through every step of their Ryanair journey.