Ryanair announces growth in Q1 profits, passenger traffic

Ryanair announced a Q1 Net Profit of €197m, an increase of 152% over last year, although cautioned that this result was distorted by the timing of a very strong Easter in Q1 with no holiday period in the prior year comparable. 

Traffic grew to 24.3m as load factors rose by four points to 86%. Average fare rose by 9%, boosted by a strong Easter period, while total revenues were up 11% to €1.496bn. Unit costs fell by 2%, excluding fuel they rose by 1%.   

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said, “Q1 profits were boosted by a strong Easter (but are somewhat distorted by the absence of Easter on the prior year Q1).The earlier launch of our summer schedule and actively raising our forward bookings has delivered a 4% increase in load factor to 86% and enabled us to better manage close-in yields.

“Ancillary Revenues rose 4% in line with traffic growth, as airport and baggage fee reductions were offset by the rising uptake of allocated seating.”    

Four new bases at Athens, Brussels, Lisbon and Rome performed strongly, as customers switched to Ryanair’s lower fares.  Our strategy to raise forward bookings continues to drive higher load factors and we expect to release our summer 2015 schedule in mid-September, some 3 months earlier than last year.

Four new bases in Cologne, Gdansk, Warsaw and Glasgow (Intl.) will be opened this winter, as well as increasing new routes and frequencies at Stansted and Dublin show the company’s investment in building schedules on key city pairs to make them more attractive for business customers. 

These positive Q1 results augur well for a strong H1, during whith traffic is predicted to grow by 3% and fares will rise by 6% subject to late booking fares in August and September. Ryanair warned against any irrational exuberance however, in what continues to be a difficult economic environment, with some company-specific challenges in H2.