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Everyone you know is in Europe right now—and someone’s profiting from it, but it’s not budget airline Ryanair.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline group, reported Q1 profits after tax of 360 million euros, down dramatically from 663 million euros a year earlier. Those tumbling profits weren’t from lack of demand, though. Passenger traffic was up 10% YoY in the quarter, for a total of 55.5 million customers.
But that solid traffic growth was offset by “by weaker-than-expected airfares, some of which is impacted by the first half of Easter falling into the prior year Q4,” CEO Michael O’Leary said in the company’s earnings call.
And while traffic was strong, O’Leary noted that “it’s only strong at a price and we are having to repeatedly stimulate fares and bookings.” Average passenger fares fell 15% YoY in Q1, and O’Leary added that “pricing remains softer than we expected,;” the company expects Q2 fares to come in “materially lower than last summer.” The carrier said its average fare was 41.93 euros in the quarter, down from 49.07 in Q1 2023.
Now, the company’s performance for the remainder of the summer is “totally dependent” on last-minute bookings and flights in August and September.
Cheap, last-minute plane tickets to exciting European locales? We have a feeling they’ll get some takers.