20th Sep 2007 10:00
Ryanair Holdings PLC20 September 2007 RYANAIR FULL YEAR GUIDANCE UNCHANGED AT AGM 1 MILLION FREE SEATS RELEASED IN OCTOBER Ryanair, Europe's favourite international airline held its AGM in Dublin thismorning (20th September) and updated shareholders on current trading and recentdevelopments. Commenting at the AGM, Ryanair's CEO, Michael O'Leary said: "Current trading continues to perform as expected, and advance bookings for theAutumn are in line with our targets. We continue to believe that Winter yieldswill be down by between -5% to -10%. Accordingly our full year guidance isunchanged. We expect passenger volumes to grow by 18% to 50m passengers anddeliver profit growth of +10%, due to the softness in Winter yields, rising fuelcosts, and the doubling of passenger charges at London Stansted, Ryanair'slargest base. "We have received a second unlawful refusal from the Directors of Aer Lingus tohold an EGM on Aer Lingus's decision to close its profitable Shannon-Heathrowroute. Ryanair regrets that Aer Lingus is refusing to allow shareholders anopportunity to discuss the closure of a profitable route at a time when AerLingus's interim profits have collapsed by 58% to just €6m and its share pricehas fallen to €2.40, well below Ryanair's offer of €2.80 last year. Since theDirectors of Aer Lingus are willing to repeatedly breach their statutoryobligations towards their largest shareholder, there clearly isn't any influencethat Ryanair can bring to bear on this profitable route closure. Accordingly, weare considering what legal remedies are available to us. "Ryanair will further expand its Shannon base due to current strong forwardbookings. Ryanair's services will almost double on Shannon - London from 4 to 7flights daily with services from Shannon to Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, whereShannon passengers can connect to more destinations than they presently can fromHeathrow. Ryanair intends to double its Shannon-Paris services to a twice dailyflight next Summer, and Ryanair is now in negotiations with Amsterdam SchipholAirport to see if a viable cost base can be agreed to allow a low fareShannon-Amsterdam route to be launched. This Winter Ryanair will operate morethan 40 daily flights to/from Shannon, connecting Shannon to 30 Europeandestinations. If Aer Lingus is determined to abandon Shannon and the West ofIreland then Ryanair will add more flights and more low fares. "To demonstrate our ongoing commitment to low fares and our unique lowest fareguarantee, Ryanair has today released 1 million free seats (passengers only paytaxes, fees and charges) for travel in the month of October. These fares areonly available until Monday the 24th of September so passengers are stronglyurged to book early on www. ryanair.com to avail of these flights". For further information Howard Millar Pauline McAlester please contact: Ryanair Holdings Plc Murray Consultants Tel: 353 1 812 1212 Tel: 353 1 498 0300 www.ryanair.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
RYA.L