Ryanair has reported a 7% fall in H1 profits to €1.20 billion, excluding Laudamotion losses.
The airline has attributed a 3% fall in average fares to excess capacity in Europe, an earlier Easter in Q1 and ATC strikes/staff shortages which caused a spike in cancellations of higher fare, weekend flights. Ryanair also said that higher fuel, staff and EU261 costs have offset strong ancillary revenue growth.
O'Leary's Thoughts
Commenting on the airline's results for the first half of 2018, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said, "As recently guided, H1 average fares fell by 3%. While ancillary revenues performed strongly, up 27%, these were offset by higher fuel, staff and EU261 costs. Our traffic, which was repeatedly impacted by the worst summer of ATC disruptions on record, grew 6% at an unchanged 96% load factor."
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
