Ryanair has posted a $369 million loss for each year and eyes a return to 'reasonable profitability'

May 17, 2022: -On Monday, Ryanair posted a 355-million-euro loss for the pandemic-reached 12 months to the end-March but said it is impossible to accurately forecast anything which hopes for a return to “reasonable profitability” this year.

According to air traffic regulator Eurocontrol, the Irish airline, which is operating more flights than any other European airline, said it planned to grow its traffic to 165 million passengers this year, from 97 million before a year and a pre-Covid-19 record of 149 million.

Although, Ryanair Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said it was “impractical, if not impossible,” to provide a sensible or accurate profit guidance range, given the potential continued risk of the war in Ukraine Covid-19 poses to booking.

“This recovery remains fragile,” O’Leary said in a statement.

He further said that while bookings have improved in the latest weeks, first-quarter pricing is continuing to need stimulation. Ryanair is cautiously optimistic that peak summer fares would be somewhat ahead of pre-pandemic because of the pent-up demand.

The pre-exceptional loss of 355 million euros was below a forecast loss of 370 million euros in a company poll of analysts and 1 billion euros in its last financial year. The airline made a profit of 1 billion euros in March 2020.

On Friday, Ryanair’s sharing was trading at 13.62 euros at the close, down 25% in three months because of increased fuel prices and concerns about the impact of inflation on European demand.