'No H2 visibility' for Ryanair after 29 per cent profit drop

Budget airline Ryanair has today reported an annual profit of €1.02bn down 29 per cent from €1.45bn reported in 2018.

The airline reported its traffic growth as increasing by 7 per cent, but said that this was offset by a 6 per cent decline in fares.

Ancillary sales also grew by 19 per cent year-on-year, but was offset by fuel, staff and EU261 flight compensation costs.

The overall Ryanair group results do not currently take into account the figures for newly acquired Australian airline Lauda, purchased by Ryanair at the end of 2018, which had “exceptional startup losses” of €139.5m.

Following the results, Ryanair have forecast a flat group profit for the financial year ending 2020 and stated that it has “no H2 visibility”, but maintained that it will continue to invest into the company’s staff, aircraft and technology.

Ryanair commented: “Ryanair has the lowest unit costs of any EU airline, and the cost gap with EU competitors continues to widen. FY19 was a year of investment in our people, our support systems and our business as we grow to 200m guests per annum by 2024.”

Regarding its forecasts for 2020, the airline added: “This guidance is heavily dependent on close-in peak summer fares, H2 prices, the absence of security events, and no negative Brexit developments.”