Ryanair has reported a first quarter 2021 net loss of €273 million on a year-over-year revenue increase of 196 percent to €371 million. On June 30, 2021, the carrier had a cash balance of €4.06 billion, up from 3.15 billion on March 31, 2021.
On Monday (July 26, 2021), Ryanair reported their first quarter financial results for the period ending June 30, 2021. The carrier reported a first quarter net loss of €273 million on a year-over-year increase in revenue of 196 percent to €371 million. In June, Ryanair received their first Boeing 737-8200 Gamechanger aircraft and expects to receive 12 of the aircraft type for the peak summer 2021 season. The airline ended the first quarter with a cash balance of €4.06 billion, up from €3.15 billion on March 31, 2021. Ryanair also issued a €1.2 billion 5-year unsecured bond in May at a record-low 0.875% coupon. Additionally, the company repaid a €850 million bond in June, reducing their net debt from €2.28 billion at the end of March, to €1.66 billion at the close of the first quarter. For 2021, the company has announced 379 new routes and 10 new bases.
In Monday’s announcement, Ryanair Holdings Group’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said in part,
“Covid-19 continued to wreak havoc on our business during Q1 with most Easter flights cancelled and a slower than expected easing of EU Govt. travel restrictions into May and June. Significant uncertainty around travel green lists (particularly in the UK) and extreme Govt. caution in Ireland meant that Q1 bookings were close-in and at low fares. We kept aircraft and crews current throughout the quarter and recruited additional cabin crew to enable us recover quickly in Q2 as Covid restrictions ease.
“The 1st July rollout of EU Digital Covid Certificates (“DCC”) and the scrapping of quarantine for vaccinated arrivals to the UK from mid-July has seen a surge in bookings over recent weeks. Pricing remains below pre Covid-19 levels and there will continue to be great value for Ryanair guests travelling this summer as we focus on recovering traffic, jobs and tourism across our European network. Based on current (close-in) bookings, we expect traffic to rise from over 5m in June to almost 9m in July, and over 10m in Aug., as long as there are no further Covid setbacks in Europe. We will continue our load active/yield passive strategy as we recover load factors over the course of FY22.
“The Covid-19 crisis has triggered the collapse of many European airlines including Flybe, Norwegian, Germanwings, Level and Stobart and led to substantial capacity cuts at many others including Alitalia, TAP, LOT, SAS, etc. The tsunami of State Aid from EU Govts. to their insolvent flag carriers (Alitalia, Air France/KLM, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, TAP and others) will distort EU competition and prop up high cost, inefficient, flag carriers for many years. We expect intra-European capacity to be materially lower for the foreseeable future.
“This will create growth opportunities for Ryanair to extend airport incentives, as the Group takes delivery of 210 new Boeing 737 “Gamechanger” aircraft. We are encouraged by the high rate of vaccinations across Europe. If, as is presently predicted, most of Europe’s adult population is fully vaccinated by Sept., then we believe that we can look forward to a strong recovery in air travel for the second half of the fiscal year and well into S.22 – as is presently the case in domestic US air travel…”
Ryanair’s first quarter traffic increased to 8.1 million guests at a 73 percent load factor, compared to 0.5 million guests and a load factor of 61 percent during Q1 2020. Ancillary revenue per passenger for the quarter was approximately €22, as more guests selected priority boarding and reserved seating. Operating costs increased 116 percent year-over-year, primarily attributable by variable costs including fuel, airport, handling and route charges.
Ryanair Holdings, plc is Europe’s largest airline conglomerate and the parent company of Buzz, Lauda, Malta Air, and Ryanair DAC. The airline usually carries over 154 million passengers annually with over 2,500 daily departures. Ryanair typically serves over 200 destinations in 40 countries with a fleet of over 400 Boeing 737 Family aircraft and 20 Airbus A320s. Currently, the low-cost carrier has over 200 Boeing 737-8200s on order. Ryanair has maintained a stellar safety record for over 35 years and prides itself on being “Europe’s greenest cleanest airline group,” promising customers a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 50%, versus the “Big 4 EU major airlines.”
Source: Ryanair