Budget airline Ryanair says passenger numbers doubled compared to last year as restrictions eased - but the company remains cautious over its prospects for 2022 despite strong Christmas bookings.
It said 39.1m passengers were flown during the six months to the end of September, compared with just 17.1m in the same period last year.
The airline said it had benefited from increases in both customers and revenue – which was up 83% – during the half-year as the travel industry rebounded from the pandemic.
It reported a loss of 48m euros (£40.6m) but it was significantly up from 411m euros (£347m) loss for the same period in 2020.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “While sectors and traffic more than doubled, operating costs increased by just 63% to 2.2bn euros (£1.86bn), driven primarily by lower variable costs such as aircraft, airport and handling, route charges and fuel.
“Lower costs, coupled with rising load factors, led to a marked reduction in cost per passenger (ex-fuel) to 38 euros (£32).
“We expect to see further improvements in costs as our new, lower-cost, more fuel-efficient aircraft deliver and EU countries (such as Ireland, Spain and Italy) roll out Covid recovery incentive schemes.”
The outspoken CEO said the airline had seen a surge in bookings for the mid-term and Christmas breaks, with the levels expected to remain high into next year.
But he warned that next year will remain challenging due to high fuel costs and “will be crucially dependent on the continued rollout of vaccines and no adverse Covid-19 developments”.
Mr O'Leary said the company was considering a delisting from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in the wake of Brexit.
He said: "Trading on the London Stock Exchange as a percentage of overall trading volume in Ryanair’s ordinary shares has reduced materially during 2021.
“The migration away from the LSE is consistent with a general trend for trading in shares of EU corporates post-Brexit and is, potentially, more acute for Ryanair as a result of the longstanding prohibition on non-EU citizens purchasing Ryanair’s ordinary shares being extended to UK nationals following Brexit.
“The board of Ryanair is now considering the merits of retaining the standard listing on the LSE. Ryanair has a primary listing on the regulated market of Euronext Dublin, which offers shareholders the highest standard of protection.”
