Ryanair stated today that expects to lose close to €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in its current financial year. Ryanair's revenue fell 82% in the third quarter, which is compared to an 88% fall at easyJet and a decline of 77% at Wizz.
Ryanair says that it expects a "reasonable summer". Ryanair has forecast a loss of between €850m and €950m for the fiscal year ending 31 March. That would make this crisis more than five times worse than the slump in 2008.
Ryanair passenger numbers fell by 78% in the last three months of the year – the third quarter of its financial calendar – pushing it to a quarterly loss of €306m, in line with expectations from an €88m profit for the same quarter last year.
Ryanair has cash of €3.5bn as of 31 December 2020, which means the airline is still cash negative per month and burned through €1bn of reserves during the third quarter. Even so, Ryanair’s balance sheet remains strong with a BBB credit rating (S&P and Fitch). Some 80% of the Group’s owned fleet is unencumbered, but the airline has not written down any aircraft values. Much of Ryanair’s post COVID-19 plans rely heavily on 737-MAX deliveries during spring 2021 and the pressure is on for Boeing to roll those out to Ryanair on time.