Ryanair has seen its profit fall sharply in the first quarter as a result of lower ticket prices. The Irish low-cost carrier had initially expected prices to remain stable or rise slightly this year, but the reality turns out to be different. In the first quarter of the current financial year, ticket prices fell by an average of 15 percent. In contrast to last year, the busy Easter days partly fell in March. In addition, the airline had to give its customers higher discounts than planned. For the three months to the end of June, Ryanair achieved a net result of 360 million euros. A year earlier, net profit amounted to nearly 663 million euros. That is almost half (-46 percent). Ryanair is cautious about its outlook for the second quarter. Pricing is tricky, and ticket prices are expected to be significantly lower than they were a year ago. From April to June, Ryanair carried 55.5 million passengers, an increase of ten percent compared to a year earlier. The company aims to increase the number of passengers by eight percent to 200 million passengers in the current financial year. The load factor of the aircraft in the three months to the end of June fell slightly from 95 to 94 percent. Turnover fell by one percent to 3.6 billion euros. The result for the first half of the year now depends on the bookings and revenue in August and September. The management, led by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, did not want to give an exact profit forecast. (Photo Shutterstock).
