The first quarter of 2020 was “the most challenging in Ryanair’s 35 year history”, the LCC said as it reported a first quarter loss of £185 million on the back of a 99% drop in passenger numbers with further bad news expected.
“At this time, the Ryanair expects FY21 traffic to fall by 60% to just 60m. The COVID 19 crisis has already seen the closure of various EU airlines including Flybe, Germanwings, Level and Sun Express.”
The carrier used its result announcement to resume its criticism of “illegal” state aid that has been provided to a number of European carriers such as Alitalia, Air France/KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, TAP and others.
“This illegal state aid will distort competition and allow unsustainable flag carriers to engage in below cost selling for many years to come. Many other airlines are cutting capacity, with the result that air travel in Europe is likely to be depressed for at least the next 2 or 3 years,” Ryanair said in its statement.
Ryanair’s own s333 unencumbered B737s, with a book value of about €7 billion and it will complete the previously announced sale seven of its oldest B737s over the winter of 2020/21.
Ryanair said that a second wave of COVID 19 was its “biggest fear” right now and that due to uncertainty over the future direction of the pandemic it would no longer be able to provide any full year guidance.