26th Jul 2021 07:02
(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Monday said at best it expects to achieve a breakeven in its current financial year, as it saw signs of recovery in the first quarter on easing lockdown restrictions in the EU and the UK.
The Irish budget airline said traffic rebounded to 8.1 million in the three months to June 30 from 500,000 a year before, as capacity recovered in May and June. As a result, revenue nearly tripled in the quarter to EUR370.5 million from EUR125.2 million a year earlier.
Scheduled revenue grew by 91% year-on-year to EUR192 million, while ancillary revenue - generated from goods or services not including tickets - performed well, generating EUR22 per passenger, as more guests choose priority boarding and reserved seating.
Ryanair said it saw operating costs more than doubling to EUR675 million in the first quarter from EUR312.8 million, driven primarily by variable costs such as fuel, airport & handling and route charges.
The company's pretax loss widened to EUR324.5 million from EUR210.0 million year-on-year.
Going forward, the company said its current financial year is expected to be challenging, with Covid-19 travel restrictions prolonging uncertainty. Following the July 1 rollout of EU Digital Covid Certificate and the relaxation of the UK's quarantine rules for those who are fully-vaccinated, the company said it has seen second-quarter bookings recover strongly, albeit at low fares.
Ryanair said it believes that full-year traffic has improved to a range of 90 million to 100 million from the previously guided 80 million to 120 million passenger range, and the company said it expects that the likely outcome for the year to the end of March 2022 is "somewhere between a small loss and breakeven".
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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