Ryanair aims for fifth of European short-haul market
Ryanair plans to hold 20% of the European short-haul market in the next five years as it announces profits are up 13% on last year despite higher oil costs.
The no frills airline said it plans to achieve a 20% share of the European short-haul market, particularly given that many of Europe’s high fare incumbents are restructuring and cutting capacity.
The airline said in a statement at its year end results to March 31 2013: "Ryanair continues to expand, making meaningful share gains in many of Europe’s largest markets.
"In addition to being the No. 1 passenger airline in Ireland, and Spain, we have in the last 12 months overtaken Alitalia and LOT to become Italy’s and Poland’s No. 1 airline, respectively."
Sales of ancillary products grew faster than traffic growth, rising 20% to 1,064 million euros – 22% of total revenue.
Ryanair saw revenue rise 13% to €4.88bn as traffic grew 5% to 79.3 million passengers despite the airline grounding 80 winter aircraft.
Unit costs rose 8%, mainly due to an 18% increase in fuel, and fares improved by 6%.
The airline said fuel costs now represent 45% of total costs.
Ryanair said with 9 additional aircraft and longer sectors, traffic growth this summer would be around 2% but it plans to ground fewer aircraft next winter hoping to grow traffic by 5%.
It added: "Significant opportunities are opening up in Germany, Scandinavia and central Europe in particular, where Air Berlin, SAS and LOT continue to restructure.
"We are in active discussions with the new owners of Stansted Airport and the new management at Dublin Airport and while no agreements have yet been reached, if a competitive cost base emerges, then we could restart growth at one or other airports as early as September 2013."
The results come as Ryanair pilots claim they have been threatened with dismissal if they sign a letter to airline regulators expressing concern over the airline’s employment practices.
The letter, drawn up by the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG), says that the system which sees pilots self employed but contractually bound to only fly for Ryanair was distracting daily flight operations.
The pilots claim they are paid for the work they do but have to pay all expenses, including uniforms and hotel accommodation.
Staff claim a memo said they would be guilty of "gross misconduct" and "liable for dismissal" if they signed the letter to the Irish Aviation Authority.
A spokesman for Ryanair said: "There is no RPG and any pilots who are unhappy at Ryanair are free to leave, as we have over 3,000 pilots waiting to join."
Diane
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