Ryanair has expressed disappointment in its recent business performance, which has also left investors dissatisfied, as the airline’s stock has dropped by 17% following a weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings report. The budget airline reported revenue of €3.6 billion ($4 billion), roughly unchanged from the previous year, but profits fell nearly 50%, reaching €336 million. CEO Michael O’Leary highlighted that while more passengers are flying with Ryanair, attracting them has become increasingly challenging.
O’Leary noted a robust 10% growth in traffic, with 55 million passengers, but emphasized that this growth comes at a cost. He mentioned that the airline is required to frequently stimulate prices and bookings and that recent bookings have been disappointing, particularly leading into the peak travel months of July, August, and September.
In addition to weaker demand, Ryanair is facing rising labor costs and has attributed some challenges to delays in Boeing’s aircraft deliveries, an ongoing issue for O’Leary. Despite previously supporting Boeing—even after a mid-flight incident with a 737 Max 9—he has urged the company to improve its delivery performance.
O’Leary conveyed concerns that Ryanair’s customers may be feeling the economic pressure more now than earlier in the post-COVID recovery phase, as inflation and stagnant economic growth impact consumers in the European Union. He pointed out that a reduction in Ryanair’s capacity could potentially benefit the airline in the near future.
“We will have less capacity into summer 2025 than we originally scheduled with our Boeing deliveries, and then, we will enter two years of essentially no growth in capacity,” O’Leary stated. “If consumers face pressures in the upcoming year or 18 months, that might not be the worst scenario for us.”