Ryanair - 8

[EI-BUD]

Very risky strategy and to be honest I don't thinks its paid off yet

no slot, I wouldnt be someone to go out on a limb to defend Ryanair but to say the above is slightly rubbished by the annual results of yesterday? In addition while annual % growth has slowed the company still expect to grow by 4M passengers this year, not many other airlines doing that and at the same time delivery exceptional profits, nowithstanding higher fuel prices....

EI-BUD

[WHBM]

Can anyone make the "Timetables" page on the new website work ? I put in origin and destination, and get back a random set of pages out of the booking engine. All I want to do is look up when they fly to where I am going to.

[Facelookbovvered]

I don't see any significant threats to FR business, it makes total sense to park the fleet when you can't cover the cost of flying them, much of that cost burden falls on crews stood down over the winter period, but with an over supply of pilots i doubt they care, yes SFO are going the sandpit in droves but that just frees up RHS seats for the training machine. Keeping Captains is the key.

I thought MOL over played the downside risk yesterday, with oil now around 19$dpb less than two months ago they should make millions more just doing what they are doing now?

How many aircraft net of returns are due this year?

[EI-BUD]

I don't see any significant threats to FR business

This is an interesting comment facelookbovvered, in my view the main threat to Ryanair model continues to be the threat of an accident. Yes this is a threat for all airlines, but given Ryanair's staunch approach to keeping costs low, this could be perceived with an accident as low maintenance. Other airlines would not feel as great a pinch in my view as say Ryanair. Nonetheless, they have a great record to date. Long may it last.

In addition, considering the competition, easyJet is one to watch as far as going after business travellers is concerned, also as Jet2 and easyJet to a lesser extent focus on holiday packages, they are in effect spreading their risk. A competitor who has a diversified risk, i.e. only reliant on core business could become a strong threat?

EI-BUD

[no slot]

EI- BUD,

Ryanairs results are very impressive, not disputing that. Would they be more impressive if they did not have to ground so many machines off season? What's the cost ( or as some seem to think gain ) of such action? Obviously it is advantageous to ground a number of machines during the quiet months due essential maintenance etc, but widespread grounding can only be reviewed as reactive to a previous bad decision. Thats all I'm saying. Not in million years would an Airline buy so many aircraft with the intention of grounding them. It only makes sense as an unexpected reaction to limit losses during recession and/or oil price spikes etc etc. Which is what I believe Ryanair are doing. Firefighting. The fundamentals of business and economics still stand.

Rgds

no slot

[Bergholt]

If you extend your argument concerning the wisdom grounding of aircraft in winter, no seaside resort should spend millions of pounds building facilities and entertainments for holidaymakers that are used almost exclusively in the summer months.

This is a seasonal business and if you can ground aircraft during the winter months and still make an annual profit, where's the problem?

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by Bergholt

If you extend your argument concerning the wisdom grounding of aircraft in winter, no seaside resort should spend millions of pounds building facilities and entertainments for holidaymakers that are used almost exclusively in the summer months.

This is a seasonal business and if you can ground aircraft during the winter months and still make an annual profit, where's the problem?

The issue is that the overall profit may well conceal some all-year routes making good returns and some seasonal holiday routes that are marginal, using up some of the profits, and not worth doing long term.

If your seasonality can be balanced across multiple different seasons (eg the Canadian charter operators with a winter peak down to the Caribbean, a summer peak transatlantic to Europe, and some Hadj work in between in the Middle East when the dates suit) then you are fine. But for single peaks it can be not worthwhile.

The UK railways, surprisingly belatedly, found this out a generation ago where holiday resorts were overcrowded for about eight summer weekends per year, and deserted at other times; those who saw the large crowds on those odd August Saturdays could not understand how the expensive facilities were actually provided at a large loss.

And yes, seaside resort fixed facilities are so often provided out of public funds for the glory of those elected, without any thought for cost-effectiveness.

[Hipennine]

I'm no supporter of some of FR's practices, but they have shaken up the airline business model substantially by progressively switching fixed costs into variable, particularly wages. This means that 2 out of 3 main costs (fuel and wages) are truly variable and related to flying hours. This leaves the capital cost of the aircraft as the only significant fixed cost. If that cost is covered in the summer period, it only makes sense to fly the planes if the revenue then covers all the variable costs plus the xtra downgrade in aircraft value through increased cycles. Most businessess are seasonal in one form or another, and successful ones adjust their cost models to suit. Until ryanair came along, there was a general assumption (and still is in some quarters) that airline business seasonality was just on the demand side.

[Shooting_Star]

Hi Guys, a few months ago I found somewere on pprune a website where you could search for connecting Ryanair flights but I can't find it anymore. Anyone who has the link? Really appreciated !

[Jack1985]

I see Ryanair has changed its slogan if you can call it that;

From - Ryanair, the world’s favorite airline
To - Ryanair, Europe’s only ultra low cost airline

Seems more appropriate.

[eu01]

Originally Posted by Shooting_Star

a few months ago I found somewere on pprune a website where you could search for connecting Ryanair flights but I can't find it anymore. Anyone who has the link?

Ryanair rejects any discussion on connecting flights, unfortunately. In spite of their disregard for this very idea, you can test skyscanner.

Just keep in mind their schedule changes and unpredictable way of dropping routes. You will be refunded just the cancelled flight, not the other leg.
¨

[racedo]

I thought MOL over played the downside risk yesterday, with oil now around 19$dpb less than two months ago they should make millions more just doing what they are doing now?

MOL described it yesterday as Airline business full of optimists whereas at Ryanair he encouraged pessimism because it means they always need to be aware of what is happening and act quickly.

History has shown that they are conservative with their results which means good chance they can deliver given what is currently known.

To paraphrase Donny Rumsfeld said its the known unknowns that cause problems.

Having spare aircraft meant that Malev and Spanair closures meant capacity already available.

Its not parking 80 aircraft and not using, its rotating and using them over a period of time so none sitting there for 5 months, its a good way of adding an extra year to usable fleet life.

[racedo]

This leaves the capital cost of the aircraft as the only significant fixed cost.

FR buy their aircraft in $$ which given the price they were originally quoted was when €-$ rate was in favour of $ they made huge savings per aircraft, also US Govt subsidising the interest deal so a real win win.

[Jamie2k9]

Winter schedule now bieng loaded.

[Bengt]

New booking engine...

Anyone know any address where errors in translation in the booking engine could be reported?
In the Swedish version I have seen at least two mistakes:
Taxes and fees in the price breakdown is translated into "Rabatterat Pris" which is Swedish for Discounted Price.
Also the first pause after inputting date to search for flights says "lastar" which is a translation of loading, but not the correct one. It should be "laddar" which is charging/loading...
Otherwise the new booking engine is FAR more user friendly than the latest versions have been.
Quick, full price (except "optional" charges") and yes much quicker!

[Stevek]

Any idea what routes are being dropped from Dublin this winter Jamie2k9?

[PocketRocket]

Hi Guys, a few months ago I found somewere on pprune a website where you could search for connecting Ryanair flights but I can't find it anymore. Anyone who has the link? Really appreciated

Hi Shooting_Star, try "www.ryalive.com" - gives you the info you are looking for. Just re-check the data with the FR homepage, some routes have changed since the schedule was uploaded!

[PPRuNeUser0176]

security check is back on fr site, so much for quicker and easier access to flights!

[bcn_boy]

check-in

We checked in on the weekend with Ryanair, however, my wife's new passport has been delivered and we had already put in the security information. Is there anyway to change this?

[davidjohnson6]

EIDW - if a website is going through a major upgrade there is always the chance that something goes wrong - either technically or someone has made a mistake in thinking how customers will behave. Obvious answer is to minimise risk - eg removing CAPTCHA until company is sure new website is working well and then reimpose CAPTCHA.

bcn boy - sounds obvious (or not with Ryanair) but could I hently suggest phoning Ryanair ? Phone charges will admittedly be extortionate but a few mins on the phone may resolve it all