Ryanair still makes money

Low-cost airline Ryanair reported Monday a 10% increase in net profit for its 2017-2018 financial year, despite the cancellation of thousands of flights this autumn and winter and even though the rise in oil prices is darkening its horizon.

For the financial year from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, the main European low-cost airline generated a net profit of EUR 1.450 billion, in line with its forecasts, thanks to an increase in passenger traffic.

It carried 130.3 million passengers during this financial year, 9% more than a year earlier and a new record for the Irish airline, which highlighted its progress in Germany, Italy and Spain.

The prices of its airline tickets have fallen on average by 3%, to 39.40 euros per flight, causing the company to say that no other »EU airline can beat Ryanair on prices« .

Its ancillary revenues (payment for a specific seat, accelerated boarding, car rental, etc.) increased by 13%, and in the end the company’s turnover increased by 8%, to 7.151 billion euros.

The Irish airline welcomed this result obtained « during a year marked by excess capacity on the European air transport market, which led to a drop in ticket prices, but also despite a rebound in oil prices and our September 2017 planning problem ».

Ryanair experienced a crisis when it had to announce in mid-September, to general surprise, the cancellation of 2,000 flights until the end of October. Then at the end of September, the company unveiled a new series of cancellations concerning 18,000 flights between November and March 2018.

In order to ease the social tensions among its pilots, which are at the root of its planning problems, Ryanair has since begun a process of union recognition.

For the current accounting year from April 2018 to March 2019, which will be marked at the end of March 2019 by the formal departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the company wanted to be « on the pessimistic side of caution ». It expects its net profit to fall to between 1.25 and 1.35 billion euros.

It will see its personnel costs increase as a result of the annualization of salary increases for its pilots and cabin crew. But above all, the company expects to suffer the impact of the continued rise in oil prices, whose Brent barrel has just crossed the 80 dollar mark for the first time since November 2014. Ryanair expects this development to increase its annual kerosene bill by 400 million euros.