Brits might seize last-minute summer season deal as Ryanair says fares ‘decrease’
Holidaymakers could net a last-minute summer getaway bargain as Ryanair said it expects fares will be ‘materially lower’ after profits at the budget airline slumped by nearly 50 per cent.
The Irish no-frills airline told on Monday how price-savvy customers delaying booking summer holidays had contributed to the 46 per cent drop in its profits to €360m (£303m), compared with the previous year.
Average plane fares fell by 15 per cent to €42 (£35), with the airline predicting it will need to offer more cut-price fares over the summer months.
Ryanair’s typical fare in June was €41.93, down from €49.07 the previous year.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said today ‘While (second-quarter) demand is strong, pricing remains softer than we expected, and we now expect (second-quarter) fares to be materially lower than last summer.’
Holidaymakers could net a last-minute summer getaway bargain as Ryanair said it expects fares will be ‘materially lower’ this year (Stock photo)
Ryanair’s typical fare in June was €41.93, down from €49.07 the previous year (Stock photo)
Despite the slump in profits, passenger numbers rose 10 per cent to 55.5million, resulting in its overall revenues fallinmg just 1 per cent to €363billion.
Passenger numbers are predicted to increase by 8 per cent this year.
Ryanair said its performance for the rest of the summer is ‘totally dependent on close-in bookings and yields in August and September’.
The airline’s chief financial officer Neil Sorahan suggested consumers were being ‘a little bit more frugal, a bit more cautious’ with their cash, and there was now ‘a bit of pushback’ following the post-pandemic boom in pricing enjoyed by airlines.
Other airlines have also signalled lower airfares , with Jet2 saying earlier this month that there would only be ‘modest’ price increases this summer amid a wave of later bookings to its European destinations.
Lufthansa cited ‘negative market trends’, while Air France-KLM warned of a financial hit after fewer people than expected booked flights to Paris for the forthcoming Olympic Games.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said he expected air fares to be ‘materially lower’
Mr O’Leary also blamed problems with air traffic control across Europe for passengers being hit with flight delays and cancellations.
He said: ‘In the last 10 days of June we suffered a significant deterioration in European air traffic control capacity which caused multiple flight delays and cancellations, especially on first wave morning flights.’
‘(This makes it) more urgent than ever that the new European Commission and Parliament deliver long-delayed reform of Europe’s hopelessly inefficient air traffic control services.’
