Ryanair CEO predicts higher fares on 'surprisingly strong' bookings
Reuters
Published Oct 13, 2022 09:21AM ET
By Klaus Lauer
BERLIN (Reuters) -Ryanair's bookings for the autumn mid-term and Christmas holidays are ahead of pre-COVID levels and it sees average fares rising by more than expected for the financial year to end-March, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said on Thursday.
O'Leary told Reuters that as long as there was no adverse news flow on COVID or Ukraine, underlying air fares "will rise by a mid to high single digit figure for the full year" versus its most recent forecast for 3-4% growth.
"At the moment they (bookings) are surprisingly strong, we thought they would begin to ease off but actually forward bookings into the mid-term and into Christmas are stronger in terms of volume and pricing than they were pre-COVID," O'Leary said in an interview.
O'Leary said the demand appeared to be supported by savings built up during the pandemic and that Ryanair does expect that customers' disposable income will get hit by increases in interest rates and the cost of living further into the northern hemisphere winter.
"But so far everything seems to indicate that people are switching to the lowest cost airline and in all markets that's Ryanair," he said.
Low cost rival easyJet (LON:EZJ) said earlier on Thursday that demand for the coming months was holding up despite pressure on household budgets, while British Airways-owner IAG (LON:ICAG) also said its third-quarter results were better than expected.
Ryanair, which unlike many airlines kept its pilots and crew up-to-date with their flying hours during the pandemic to take advantage of the swift rebound, flew a record 16.9 million passengers in August and close to that again in September.
It expects to fly 166.5 million passengers in the year to the end of March, significantly ahead of its previous annual record of 149 million reached before the pandemic brought the travel industry to a standstill.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.