Ryanair revealed a record annual after-tax loss of $989 million, as it was forced to scrap more than 80% of flights. Group Chief Executive Michael O'Leary: "It's better than we predicted, but still a fairly traumatic loss for an airline that has been consistently profitable for our 35-year history."
In its financial year ended in March, the airline flew 27.5 million passengers, significantly lower than what it reported during the previous year – 149 million.
For the future, Ryanair reiterated its forecast that numbers for the current fiscal year would be closer to the lower end in the range of 80 million – 120 million passengers. For the April-June quarter, it expects to fly as many as 6 million people. According to O'Leary, "recovery has already begun," as bookings climbed from around 500,000/week in April to 1.5 million per week.
Moreover, the company added that it is impossible to give a formal profit outlook for the year. They said that the possible outcome for FY22 is currently close to breakeven, if the vaccine rollout in Europe remains on track.
At the moment of writing, Ryanair stock price is up 1.20%.
Sources: finance.yahoo.com, reuters.com
