Dublin-based Ryanair Holdings plc on Monday announced a record annual loss of €815 million for the year to March 31, compared to a previous year profit of €1 billion, as its traffic fell 81% from 148.6 million passengers to 27.5 million due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Revenue fell 81% to €1.64 billion.
In its outlook, Ryanair said “visibility for the remainder of FY22 is close to zero although bookings have jumped significantly from a very low base since week 1 of April.”
The firm said it cautiously believes it can break even in the current year – assuming that a successful rollout of vaccines this summer allows a “timely easing” of European government travel restrictions.
Ryanair said: “FY22 continues to be challenging, with uncertainty around when and where Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions will be eased.
“The group expects Q1 traffic to be heavily curtailed to between 5m and 6m guests.
“With a very close-in booking curve, visibility for the remainder of FY22 is close to zero although bookings have jumped significantly from a very low base since week 1 of April.
“It is therefore impossible to provide meaningful FY22 guidance at this time.
“However, as recently announced, we think that FY22 traffic is likely to be towards the lower end of our previously guided range of 80m to 120m passengers.
“We also (cautiously) believe that the likely outcome for FY22 is currently close to breakeven – assuming that a successful rollout of vaccines this summer allows a timely easing of European Govt. travel restrictions on intra-European traffic in time for the peak travel period of Jul./Aug./Sept.
“As we look beyond the Covid-19 crisis, and the successful completion of vaccination roll outs, the Ryanair Group expects to have a much improved cost base and a very strong balance sheet.
“We will also benefit from a reduced fleet cost for the next decade as we take more deliveries of our B737 ‘Gamechanger’ aircraft which will materially improve revenues with 4% more seats while substantially reducing unit costs, especially fuel.
“This will enable the group to fund lower fares and capitalise on the many growth and market share opportunities that are now available across Europe, especially where competitor airlines have substantially cut capacity or failed.
“The group expects to benefit from a strong rebound of pent up travel demand through the second half of 2021, and looks forward to returning to pre-Covid growth in summer 2022 with the help of the Gamechanger aircraft and new bases (incl. those recently announced in Billund, Riga, Stockholm, Zadar & Zagreb).”