DUBLIN (dpa-AFX) – The Europeans’ desire to travel brought the low-cost airline Ryanair a sharp jump in profits in the months of April to June. After the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine had dampened demand a year earlier, ticket prices rose sharply this time. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary also expects more expensive tickets for the summer, as the Irish company announced in Dublin on Monday. However, the business growth is slowed down by the delays at the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The US group is once again lagging behind in the delivery of new jets.
On the stock exchange, the news was acknowledged with price losses. The Ryanair share lost around four percent on the Dublin stock exchange in the morning. The papers of other airlines such as Lufthansa, easyJet, Air France-KLM and the British Airways mother IAG (International Consolidated Airlines) also went down.
In the first business quarter to the end of June, Ryanair counted around 50.4 million passengers, eleven percent more than a year earlier. Machine utilization improved from 92 to 95 percent, and sales even jumped 40 percent to 3.65 billion euros. Ticket prices have risen by an average of 42 percent year-on-year thanks to strong Easter business, it said in explanation.
A year earlier, the shock of a war in Europe had caused ticket demand to plummet, prompting Ryanair to lower prices. This time, the company earned almost 663 million euros, slightly more than analysts expected on average. A year earlier, the company had only made a profit of around 188 million.
For the most important travel season from July to September, Ryanair does not expect prices to rise as sharply as in the past quarter. After all, demand had already recovered from the war shock in the summer of 2022, meaning that the basis for comparison is higher than in the first quarter of the financial year. Nevertheless, the management expects the tickets to be on average a low double-digit percentage more expensive than a year ago.
The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is once again causing displeasure among the Irish. Because of problems in the supply chain, the manufacturer is several months behind in deliveries of the 737 Max medium-haul jets. Therefore, Ryanair cannot expand the fleet as quickly as previously planned.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary therefore expects only 183.5 million passengers for the entire financial year up to the end of March 2024. That is nine percent more than in the previous year. In May, however, management had announced an increase to 185 million.
As recently as May, Ryanair had ordered 150 medium-haul jets in the long version 737 Max 10 from Boeing and secured options for a further 150 copies. This variant has not yet been approved by the authorities. The currently expected jets are the 737 Max 8200, a special version for low-cost airlines with more seats and additional doors. Ryanair wants to expand its own fleet with the jets and replace older machines from the previous version, which consume more kerosene than the Max generation.
Boeing has been in a crisis for years. After the crash of two jets from the 737 Max series at airlines in Indonesia and Ethiopia, this type was not allowed to take off worldwide for a long time from March 2019. The technical problems are now considered solved, and most flight bans have long since been lifted. However, Boeing and its European competitor Airbus (Airbus SE (ex EADS)) are now struggling with supply chain bottlenecks that are also affecting other industries./stw/ngu/jha/
Select leverage products on Boeing Co.
With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the desired lever and we will show you suitable open-end products on Boeing Co.
Leverage must be between 2 and 20