A Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS lands in Brussels on June 18, 2023 in Belgium.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Ryanair Monday posted an after-tax profit of 663 million euros ($737.26 million) for the three months ending June, well above pre-pandemic levels, but lowered its passenger growth forecast for 2023 due to Boeing delivery delays.
The Irish airline, Europe’s largest by passenger numbers, added that it had already received indications from Boeing that some deliveries of 737-8200 aircraft could be delayed from April 2024 to June 2024, which could impact this winter and next spring.
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It now expects traffic in the year to March 2024 to grow 9% to around 183.5 million from the 185 million originally forecast.
Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan told Reuters he was not as concerned about the delays as he was a few months ago, that Boeing had improved significantly and deliveries had more recently been hit by factors beyond the plane maker’s control.
Ryanair, which carried a record number of monthly passengers in May and June, saw its average fares jump 42% year-on-year in the quarter during a strong Easter and comparatively weaker period that was affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ticket prices for bookings for the July-September quarter, typically Ryanair’s most profitable time of year, are expected to rise year-on-year by a low double-digit percentage, Ryanair said.
“We noted a easing of rates near the end of June and early July,” chief executive Michael O’Leary added in a statement.
“We are aware that consumers may need some price stimulus to fill our 25% higher seating capacity this winter (compared to pre-Covid) after months of rising mortgage rates and consumer price inflation.”
Ryanair’s fiscal first-quarter profit quadrupled from 170 million euros a year ago when air travel started to take off after the COVID-19 shutdowns and broke the previous record for the period, 397 million euros in 2017.
The final figure compared to a forecast of 620 million euros in a company survey of analysts.