Ryanair shares, increased 26% this year after a post-pandemic travel crash, decreased at 15.74 euros in early trade

July 25, 2023: On Monday, Ryanair struck a caution regarding travel market for the rest of the year and slashes its passenger increase forecast because of the Boeing delivery holds after its quarterly profit flew past pre-pandemic levels.

Ryanair, which flew a record number of monthly passengers in May and June, said demand examined robust for the rest of the summer, with fares expected to keep growing but at a slower low double-digit percentage rate from July to September.

Fares for passengers booking near their departure date softened in late June and early July. CEO Michael O’Leary stated the low-cost carrier would likely have to boost demand through lower prices this winter when it will have 25% more seats to fill than in 2019.

Ryanair shares, up 26% this year after a post-pandemic travel boom, were 4.3% lower at 15.74 euros in early trade.

“We’re concerned regarding the impact of these macroeconomic trends. Consumer price inflation, higher interest rates, higher mortgage rates might affect consumer spending in the second half of the year,” O’Leary said in an analyst presentation.

He added that this would ultimately benefit Ryanair’s growth because customers will keep flying but become more price sensitive.

The Irish airline, Europe’s largest by passenger numbers, posted a 663 million euro after-tax profit for the three months ending in June after traffic increased 11% year-on-year and average fares jumped 42%.

That compared to 170 million euros a year ago when the travel rebound began and beat the previous high for the initial quarter of its fiscal year, 397 million euros in 2017. A company poll of analysts had expected a 620 million euro gain.

Ryanair said it remained cautiously optimistic regarding a modest increase in complete-year profit and that it hoped to be in a position to provide more significant guidance in November.

It now expects traffic in the year to March 2024 to grow by 9% to around 183.5 million compared to the 185 million expected initially, citing Boeing delivery delays.

The planemaker has shown that some new aircraft deliveries may be delayed from April 2024 to June 2024, O’Leary said, adding that Ryanair was working closely with Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems to ensure no further holds past that.