Ryanair - routes, schedules, incidents and issues (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Ryanair profits drop as Iran war puts off passengers and lifts fuel costs

Ryanair's profits have fallen sharply as war in the Middle East sent jet fuel prices soaring and customers reluctant to book flights.

The Irish airline's pre-tax profits dropped 34% to €593m (£503m) between April and June while sales were flat as the company was forced to cut fares to stimulate demand.

Ryanair also said it expects summer fares to be slightly lower than last year due to "consumer hesitancy" around air travel.

The price of fuelling a plane has jumped since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February and while Ryanair said it had "hedged" or struck deals for the most future fuel costs, those not included in these arrangements had more than doubled.

Crude oil prices hit $90 (£67) a barrel for the first time in a month on Monday, before falling back slightly, after a weekend of intense exchanges of fire between the US and Iran.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — an essential route for global oil and gas supplies — has ground to a halt.

An interim peace deal last month brought some respite to oil and energy prices, but they spiked again as negotiations broke down and fighting resumed.

The airline warned that its results for the year will be "highly sensitive" to external factors such as conflict escalation in the Middle East and Ukraine as well as the price of unhedged jet fuel.

Fares for for the key summer period between July and September are on track to be "modestly" lower than last year, with many passengers booking closer to departure than normal.

The firm's finance chief, Neil Sorahan, said flights on its popular Mediterranean routes were still full. "People [are] as keen to get away as ever, albeit booking just a little bit later," he said.

Between April and June, Ryanair's revenue ticked up 1% to €4.4bn.

While passenger numbers rose 6% to 6.1 million- helped by the Easter holiday in April - fares fell by 6% as the airline reduced fares to entice flyers concerned about the Iran war.

Ryanair's share price fell 5% on Monday.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said Ryanair was in a better position than many of its rivals, but nonetheless "visibility is worse than San Francisco airport when the fog sets in".

"The renewed escalation in hostilities in the Middle East is unhelpful and without a lasting resolution, challenging times for the airline and travel space look set to continue."

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Ryanair broken window may have been caused by 'foreign object'

An incident on a Ryanair flight which saw a passenger partially sucked out of a plane window may have been caused by "foreign object damage" to an engine, said the airline's boss.

Michael O'Leary said an initial investigation into the incident on 10 July between Greece and Germany suggests "it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki but ... we can't say that definitively".

He insisted that the engine on the 18-year-old Boeing 737 plane had been fully serviced and overhauled in the past two years.

Serbian national Ljubisa Karović's head and right shoulder were sucked out of the plane's window, leaving him "seriously injured and in shock".

His wife Svetlana Grković Maksimović told BBC Serbia that she and two other passengers held on to his legs for several minutes.  She said: "We pulled him back together. His entire face was deformed and blood was pouring from his nose and mouth."

He was taken to hospital after the plane made an emergency landing.

Passengers told local media they heard "some kind of explosion" on board.

The aircraft was operated by Ryanair's subsidiary Malta Air.

Confirmation that the damage was caused by an external object could affect Ryanair or Boeing's liabilities over the incident.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating. O'Leary said that a draft report would be issued in about 28 days.

[JayMac]

I don't think it's very wise for an airline boss to pre-empt the NTSB* investigation.



* The US's National Transportation Safety Board are leading the investigation, having been invited to do so by Greece's Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I don't think it's very wise for an airline boss ...

Just to say, we are referring to Michael O'Leary here ...

That's my personal opinion, not the official view of the Coffee Shop forum.

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum).