Ryanair has turned in a half-year net profit of €1.29 billion ($1.5 billion), up 11% on the previous interim figure, but is leaving its full-year forecast unchanged.
The airline achieved an 11% increase in passenger numbers in the six months to 30 September, partly the result of a strong Easter holiday period, but expects to cut growth in the second half to just 4% as a result of its cockpit crew scheduling crisis.
It is grounding 25 aircraft to help remedy the situation and has cut the number of passengers expected over the year, from 131 million to 129 million.
But it says fares will fall by 4-6% rather than the previous estimate of 5-7%.
Ryanair will incur some €70 million in additional costs arising from its scheduling issues, a mix of €25 million in compensation costs and €45 million in additional pilot costs.
Full-year unit costs, it predicts, will fall by around 2% – although the figure excluding fuel will rise by 3%.
Ryanair says it sees "no reason" to alter its net profit estimate of €1.4-1.45 billion.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
