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Ryanair Holdings PLC on Monday slashed its full-year profit guidance, after the budget airline’s flights were removed from ’pirate’ travel sites and it endured a weaker festive period.
The Dublin-based carrier said profit after tax in the three months that ended December 31 fell 93% to €15 million from €211 million a year before, as higher fuel costs offset a rise in revenue, it said.
While passenger traffic and airfares were higher than a year ago, Ryanair said plane loads and yields during the festive period were ‘softer than previously expected’.
This was due to the airline having to lower prices in response to the ‘sudden (but welcome) removal’ of its flights from online travel agency pirate websites in early December, Ryanair said.
Nevertheless, revenue in the quarter jumped 17% to €2.70 billion from €2.31 billion a year prior.
Passenger traffic grew 7.8% to 41.4 million from 38.4 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago, while the carrier’s load factor ticked down a notch to 92% from 93% a year before, Ryanair said.
Looking ahead, Ryanair said it continues to target full-year traffic of approximately 183.5 million passenger, despite ‘slightly lower’ third-quarter load factors and Boeing Co plane delivery delays. Traffic in financial 2023 was 168.6 million passengers, so it will be up 8.8% in financial 2024 if the target is met.
Additionally, the airline narrowed its profit after tax guidance for the year ending March 31 to a range of between €1.85 billion and €1.95 billion from a previously expected range of €1.85 billion to €2.05 billion. Profit after tax in financial 2023 was €1.31 billion.
Ryanair warned that the full year result will be ‘heavily dependent’ on avoiding unforeseen adverse events in the fourth quarter, such as the Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and further Boeing delivery delays.
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