In 2023, low-cost airline Ryanair will start operating regular flights from Sofia to six new destinations. The Irish airline has announced that they will be from Sofia in Wroclawfrom Varna in Vilnius and Katowiceas well as from Burgas to Dublin, Kaunas and Poznan. Flights will begin in March, May and June and tickets are on sale now.
The low-cost airline told Money.bg in October that it had signaled a travel boom in the summer, against a backdrop of staff shortages, which in combination caused chaos at airports around the world. Another major problem in the aviation sector have been the strikes by airport staff, aviation security personnel, pilots and cabin crew, which although localised, have affected the entire sector. Currently, hopes are for a strong winter season.
Ticket prices will increase
Taking into account all the crises and above all the increase in the prices of energy sources, the average prices of airline tickets should grow. Recently, a speech by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, announcing the end of the era of cheap tickets, has become particularly popular. This doesn’t mean that low-cost flights will no longer exist, but they certainly won’t be as massive as they were in the pre-pandemic period.
Europe’s largest low-cost carrier reported a net profit of €1.37 billion in the first half of its fiscal 2023 (ended September 30), compared with a loss of €48 million in the same period last year. At the same time, revenues increased more than 3 times – to 6.62 billion euros from 2.15 billion euros in the corresponding previous period, according to the company’s report.
Passenger traffic for the period rose to 95.1 million from 39.1 million people a year earlier. Flight occupancy rose to 94% from 79%.
Ryanair expects to serve 168 million passengers for the current fiscal year and an adjusted profit of between €1 and €1.2 billion.
