The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair fell to a loss of 197 million euros (5.4 billion CZK) in the first six months of its financial year. This is the first time in decades that the company has reported a loss in the summer months, traditionally a key period for aviation. The company said it was considering further capacity reductions in the winter due to the second wave of covid-19 and newly introduced anti-coronavirus measures.
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However, the loss is less than the estimate of analysts in the Reuters poll, who expected a loss of 244 million euros. In the same period last year, the company had a profit of 1.15 billion euros.
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In the six months to the end of September, Europe’s largest low-cost airlines carried 80 percent fewer passengers because of coronavirus than a year ago. Company boss Michael O’Leary expects capacity to be at 50 to 80 percent pre-pandemic levels next summer season.
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Due to uncertainty, the company did not publish its outlook for the entire financial year, which ends on March 31. However, she stated that she expects a larger loss in the second half of the year than in the first.
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Ryanair reiterated that it plans to carry 38 million passengers in the current financial year. However, if the governments of the European Union countries introduce further travel restrictions, the actual number will probably be even lower. The company carried 149 million passengers in the previous financial year.
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In its 30 years of operation, Ryanair has reported a full-year loss only once. It was in 2009 – but even then he had a slight profit in the summer season.
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