Comparing Ryanair results to those of Easyjet
Hi,
As Cyrano has suggested, making comparisons between the two airlines is not a straightforward thing to do. You could pick any of the following measures on their own and try to tell a story with the numbers... but if you're going to do that you need to be very careful.
Consider for example:
Jan 2011 vs Jan 2010 % pax growth: U2 +19.1%, FR +5%
Jan 2011 vs Jan 2010 growth in absolute passenger numbers: U2 +600,000 FR +220,000
Jan 2011 LF: U2 78.9%, FR 71%
Rolling year to Jan 2011 Pax: U2 50.32 million, FR 72.9 million (rightly or wrongly including volcano cancellations)
Rolling year to Jan 2011 % pax growth: U2: +8.5%, FR +11%
Rolling year to Jan 2011 growth in absolute pax numbers: U2 +3.9 million, FR +7.3 million
Rolling year to Jan 2011 LF: U2 87.1%, FR 82%
And one more important statistic:
Predicted loss for W10/11 (Oct 2010 to March 2011): U2: Approx £140-160 million, FR: Approx EUR 50 to EUR 70 million.
Unless they place another aircraft order, FR's growth will slow to zero in the next couple of years. U2 still have plans to grow, even though Stelios doesn't like this plan. As for a big changeover, U2 still have a lot of catching up to do in terms of passenger numbers and profits, although as I recall they still lead in terms of profit per passenger. Is it a race? And if so, which race do you want to win?