O'LEARY CAUTIONS ABOUT 'GETTING TOO EXCITED' ABOUT LATEST QUARTERLY RESULTS FROM RYANAIR - Results from Ryanair for the final three months of 2011 show the airline swung from a €10.3m loss during the same period in 2010 to a €13m profit. Passenger numbers fell as Ryanair cut capacity and grounded 80 planes for the off-season. But average fares rose 17%, helping to boost revenue by 13% to £844m.
Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary says the airline had hedged its fuel prices at $103 a barrel during the weakest time of the year for the industry and so decided to ground a number of planes in an effort to burn less fuel and to cut costs. Mr O'Leary says today's figures are good results for the airline, but adds that they have to be compared to the same time in 2010 when bad weather disrupted the airline's operations and cut passenger numbers. He cautioned about ''getting too excited'' about today's results.
Defending the fact that Ryanair fares rose by 17% during the quarter, he points out that the airline's fares are still much lower than its competitors. But he says the airline has to deal with reality and notes that despite the grounding of 80 of its plans, it fuel costs were still higher due to the higher price of oil.
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday expressed disappointment that despite cutting passenger taxes in the jobs initiative there has not been any significant increase in capacity at Irish airports. Mr O'Leary says the Minister must introduce some real change and reform in the industry and points out that even Aer Lingus chief executive says the Dublin airport charges were ''insane''. He says there is no point in cutting the air travel tax from €10 to €3 and then increasing airport charges.
Mr O'Leary says Ryanair's passenger numbers will start to climb again during the key summer months. The airline is planning to open five new bases over the coming months, including new bases in Spain, Poland and Cyprus. He also said that Ryanair is currently in Spain organising rescue plans for stranded Spanair customers, which went bust over the weekend.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS which is 80% owned by the British state, has waived a controversial £963,000 bonus which was due on top of his £1.2 million salary. RBS' Ulster Bank subsidiary is currently looking for 950 redundancies which saw the Irish Bank Officials Association add its voice to the cacophony of political and public criticism of Mr Hester in the UK which has now borne fruit.
*** IBEC, the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, has reiterated a call for measures aimed at stimulating consumer spending. It follows an economic outlook published by the group in which it cuts back forecasts for economic growth from 1% to just 0.9% this year. IBEC believes consumer spending will fall by 2% this year. One of the ways it is suggesting this could be counteracted is by allowing people to draw down part of their private pensions or additional voluntary contributions to spend now.
*** On the currency news this morning, the euro is trading at $1.3154 and 83.88 pence.
