Ryanair profitability
One major element which is almost always overlooked in this issue is the question of subsidy by regional governments in the EU. (I know you are not allowed to call it subsidy but I cannot be bothered to write it in "quotation marks" to keep the lawyers happy.)
Currently, with Ryanair pulling out of Reus at the end of this month for the winter and also cutting back very substantially at Girona they should be receiving many fewer mega-Euros from the Generalitat de Catalunya; though as always the local press coverage (as of yesterday) was as clear as mud.
Presumably if the Catalans have finally got the message as to the true nature of the airline with whom they have got into bed, that penny will be dropping in the [2nd division but previously cash flush though now totally skint] chanceries all across Europe too.