The budget airline said yesterday the first three months of this year would see “significant price stimulation” in a travel bonus to bargain-hunting fliers.
It came as the Irish carrier counted the cost of the rapid and wide spread of Omicron, which dented trade in the runup to Christmas and into the new year.
Ryanair said its load factor – which is how full its planes were – rose from 84 per cent in October to 86 per cent in November, when it carried 10.2million passengers.
But the rise went into reverse with the sudden emergence of Omicron – and the load factor dropped to 81 per cent in December, with some 9.5 million passengers.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said it was sticking to its full-year forecast of carrying just under 100 million people.
In an update yesterday, he said losses narrowed to £80million in the final three months of last year, from £267million over the same period in 2020. But due to what Mr O’Leary called “Covid uncertainty”, he said the airline was keeping to its guided loss of anywhere from £208million to £374million for the year.
Mr O’Leary added: “This outturn is hugely sensitive to any further positive or negative Covid news flow.
“So we would caution all shareholders to expect further disruptions before we in Europe and the rest of the world can declare the Covid crisis is behind us.”
Yet a bounceback in summer bookings could see prices rise again. Ryanair chief financial officer Neil Sorahan confirmed that with rivals cutting capacity “there could be upward pressure on fares”.
Russ Mould, investment director at broker AJ Bell, said: “Ryanair, never usually known for its generosity to customers, is being forced to offer discounted tickets in the near-term to fill its flights.
“However, the longer-term picture for pricing could be more favourable for Ryanair, given the likely pent-up demand for foreign travel over the summer.”
