Ryanair Q1 profits soar, but cautious on winter demand

Low-cost airline Ryanair reported a better-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit, boosted by strong Easter sales, but was cautious about demand over the coming months due to aircraft delivery delays from Boeing and price-conscious passengers.

The company on Monday reported profit of €663m (£573m) up from €170m a year ago when the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine hit air travel. A company poll of analysts had expected earnings of €620m.

Ryanair carried more than 50 million people in the 12 weeks to June 30. Its load factor – the proportion of seats sold - hit 95%, up from 92%. Revenue rose 40% to €2.6bn.

Ryanair forecast fares rises of a low double digit percentage between July and September.

However, chief executive Michael O'Leary said the carrier would probably have to cut fares this winter as capacity increased 25% from 2019 pre-Covid pandemic levels.

"We're concerned about the impact of these macroeconomic trends. Consumer price inflation, higher interest rates, higher mortgage rates might affect consumer spending in the second half of the year," O'Leary said.

Traffic growth in the year to March 2024 was now slated to grow 9% to around 183.5 million compared to the 185 million originally forecast, due to Boeing delivery delays.

The planemaker has indicated that some new aircraft deliveries may be delayed from April 2024 to June 2024, O'Leary said.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com