Ryanair today announced a Q3 profit of €15m compared to last years Q3 loss of €10m. Traffic fell by 2%, ave. fares rising 17% and revenues increasing 13% to €844m. Unit costs rose by 11% due to the 7% increase in sector lengths and an 18% increase in fuel costs.
Following the announcement of these results, Michael O Leary said: “We are pleased to report a Q3 profit of €15m which is ahead of expectations due to benign weather conditions in December (compared to widespread snow closures and deicing in Dec 2010) and a better yield performance as we grounded 80 aircraft and cut traffic by 2%.
“The 17% rise in ave. fares (which includes our optional baggage fees) is due to reduced seat capacity, longer sectors, and higher competitor fares/fuel surcharges. Ancillary revenues grew 6% to €177m and rose by 8% on a per pax basis. We extended our successful reserved seat service to all routes from January 10th.
“Our new routes and bases have performed well this winter. We open 5 new bases in Baden Baden (Ger), Billund (Den), Palma (Spain), Paphos (Cyprus) and Wroclaw (Poland) in March/April 2012. We expect to launch at least 1 more base for summer 2012, shortly.
“The EU recession, higher oil prices, the unfolding failure of the package tour operator model, significant competitor fare increases and capacity cuts, has created enormous growth opportunities for Ryanair, as large and smaller airports across Europe compete aggressively to win Ryanair’s growth.
“In Ireland the Govt owned DAA airport monopoly recently published its 2011 traffic figures which highlighted a 26% decline in traffic from 30m pax in 2007 to just 22m in 2011. While many UK and EU airports delivered growth in 2011 by reducing charges, the DAA monopoly (protected by the Dept of Transport) raised fees by 40% and delivered another year of underlying traffic declines. Sadly, the new Irish government has failed to deliver any change or reform in airport or tourism policy and failed to scrap the €3 tourist tax.
“Ireland needs competition between Dublin, Cork & Shannon airports in order to reduce the DAA’s high airport charges, and return our tourism industry to growth, which will create thousands of badly needed entry level jobs in the Irish economy. We will continue to campaign for this change and reform, since the Dept of Transport’s current policy of protecting the DAA monopoly and raising access costs clearly isn’t working.
“Our Q3 Net Profit of €15m was slightly ahead of guidance due to a combination of benign weather which caused fewer flight cancellations and significant de-icing savings, and a better performance on yields reflecting our planned winter capacity cuts, longer sectors, and higher competitor fares/fuel surcharges. Should these positive Q3 trends continue into Q4, we now expect our full year profit will exceed previous guidance (of €440m) and rise to €480m”.