Where do some of these opinions come from ?

London to Athens not profitable for LCCs ? It was one of Easyjet's earliest routes, and they more recently added a parallel route from Gatwick.

Long routes not profitable for LCCs. Folks, it depends what your yield is. Longer routes with higher fares will be profitable. Shorter routes with lower fares will not be. Not solely dependent on mileage.

Ryanair won't pay airport fees. News to their 2 largest bases, Stansted and Dublin.

25 minute turnrounds are necessary. Well looking at some comparisons, those with the shortest scheduled turnrounds often have slightly longer sector times scheduled on identical routes. It all depends how you present it.

Dear MarkD,

Well, i did not want to offend the "relatives" of your wife, but if you go to see some statistics from the leading at the moment Greek carrier (Aegean) you will see that Greeks do NOT travel. This is a quote from the Aegean website "AEGEAN AIRLINES flew 4.007.515 passengers on its 18 jet aircraft in 2005"

Ah? in one year 4 million people in domestic and international flights? If I am not wrong FR carried more than 5million passengers only in the month of April.

From the other side dear WHBM, I would like to inform you that the routes of EZY London (both airports) Athens are really not Low cost!

Just a small research brought me this result €426.29 A/R.

Anyway, the greek market is still new for the LOCO's.....

Anybody from FR has more details on future routes to Greece?

Kind Regards
Tms

Ryanair charged me £150 for a ONE WAY Bristol to Dublin (30 min block time), so in comparison this looks a bargain !

Ananda

The fact is that Greece's peripherality doesn't help. As has been pointed out LCCs don't like long sector lengths - however FR's wingleting of their 738s for example reduces fuel burn over longer sectors.

Up to recently most places nearby Greece were not open-skies however the EU expansion is changing that - there's also the small airspace problem to the southeast. If you looked at Ireland's air travel figures before open-skies you would think they didn't like travelling either - the increases since have been enormous.

I don't dispute your figures - I do think that they will increase and soon.

I'd like to add that easyJet are not a low cost carrier and never have been. They are a low cost operator and no frills airline. There is a huge difference. Ryanair are a low cost carrier.

ezybus
Ezybus:
I think you are on a hopeless quest in trying to establish a difference between a "low cost carrier", a "low cost operator" and a "no frills airline". These terms are essentially synonymous. Of course it's possible to argue that Ryanair are lower-cost than easyJet, and so on, but I can't really see easyJet saying "we are not a low cost carrier." :ooh:

Dear MarkD,

I agree with you regarding the "open-skies". I can imagine that it could boost a bit the flow of the greek travellers. From the other side, Ireland apart the open skies has adapted an excellent tax policies which has attracted a lot of global businesses such as Dell, Google...etc....Obviously this thing has contributed a lot to the economy of Ireland and the flow of the business travellers.

In any case, I can say that although i am a bit astonished that FR wants to take over the air of Morocco, I find it a correct strategy. And from Hann can not be considered as a short lenght route. (maybe the new 738s will be used for those routes?)

Kind Regards
Tms

ryanair profits
 

Press Release
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

06.06.06
RYANAIR FULL YEAR RESULTS AHEAD OF EXPECTATIONS RECORD NET PROFIT OF €302M AS TRAFFIC GROWS TO 35M

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 low fares airline today (Tuesday, 6 June 2006) announced record after tax profits of €302m, some €7m ahead of previous expectations. Traffic grew by 26% to 35m passengers, yields were up 1%, as total revenues grew by 28% to €1.69bn. Excluding fuel, unit costs fell by 6% (including fuel they rose by 5%). Fuel costs rose by 74% to €462m. Despite these substantially higher fuel costs, Ryanair achieved an 18% after tax margin, as adjusted net profits increased for the year by 12% to €302m.

Summary Table of Results (IFRS) - in Euro

Year Ended Mar 31, 2005 Mar 31, 2006 % Increase
Passengers 27m 35m 26%
Revenue €1,319m €1,693m 28%
Adjusted Profit after Tax (note 1 & 2) €268m €302m 12%
Basic EPS (Euro Cents) (note 1 & 2) 35.28 39.32 11%

Note 1: Adjusted profit and EPS to March 31, 2005 excludes an amount of €11.9m (net of tax) resulting from changes in the accounting treatment for Goodwill arising on the Buzz acquisition following the adoption of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) Note 2: Adjusted profit after tax and EPS for the year ended March 31, 2006 excludes an amount of €5.2m ( net of tax) arising from the settlement of an aircraft insurance claim.

Announcing these results Ryanair’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Leary, said:

“Ryanair has again delivered record traffic and profits despite substantially higher oil prices, intense competition and the absence of Easter from the fourth quarter. This robust performance validates our lowest fare/lowest cost model which continues to grow profitably in Europe even during adverse market conditions, when many of our competitors are reporting losses.

Highlights of the past 12 months include:

After tax profit of €302m, an increase of 12% despite a 74% increase in fuel costs.
Cost discipline continues with a 6% unit cost reduction excluding fuel.
Average yields increased by 1% despite a 27% increase in capacity.
Significant traffic growth of 26% to 35m passengers, across 330 routes with 103 aircraft.
The retirement of our remaining B737-200’s, reduced the average age of Ryanair’s fleet to 2½ years, the youngest in Europe.
46 new routes and 1 new base have already been announced for the remainder of 2006.
Our balance sheet has been further strengthened with cash increasing €366m to €1.97 billion.
The key to Ryanair’s traffic and profit growth was our refusal to levy fuel surcharges on our passengers at a time when most other airlines in Europe are introducing or increasing them. In some cases other airline surcharges exceed our average fares. This is driving millions of passengers to Ryanair. We will continue to absorb significantly higher oil prices thanks to the benign yield environment and continuing unit cost reductions.

We have taken advantage of the recent short-term fall in oil prices to hedge 90% of our needs from June to October 2006 at an average price of $70 a barrel. The recent weakness in the dollar will help us to partially offset these higher oil prices. We remain unhedged from October onwards, and will continue to look for opportunities to hedge further into the future, but only if suitable pricing opportunities present themselves. As always hedging will eliminate near-term uncertainty and risk, it will not deliver lower costs during periods of rising oil prices.

Ryanair’s inexorable growth in aircraft, routes and passengers continues. Over the coming year we expect traffic to grow by 20% to 42m passengers. Traffic at our new bases in Liverpool, Nottingham East Midlands and Shannon is performing well, with strong advance bookings into the Summer months. The passenger response to our new French base at Marseille which will open in November has been very positive. We also expect to announce one or possibly two further bases for Spring 2007 and expansion of some of our existing bases before the end of the Summer.

We refuse to allow higher oil prices distract us from aggressively pursuing unit cost reductions and operating efficiencies. A number of recent initiatives will help our drive for lower costs and fares. Web based check-in and charging for bags are both running ahead of expectations. After some initial delays with the roll out of web check-in we are now seeing flights with over 50% of passengers using our web check-in and priority boarding facility. Charging for check-in bags has encouraged passengers to travel with fewer and in some cases zero check-in bags. Indications over the past two months suggest that this initiative may offset the anticipated decline in overall yields by more than €1 per passenger.

The winglet modification programme on our 737 fleet is proving effective with better aircraft performance and a 2% reduction in fleet fuel consumption, a saving which we believe can be improved over the coming year. Our operating performance continues to make Ryanair the No. 1 customer service airline in Europe. No other major or low cost airline can match Ryanair’s record for consistently high punctuality, with fewest lost bags and least flight cancellations.

Ancillary revenues continue to grow strongly. From an already high base we expect these revenues will grow at a faster rate than scheduled traffic for the coming year. We are close to finalising new initiatives to offer our customers mobile phone services on board in 2007 and website gambling which we believe will give a further boost to ancillary revenues in this fiscal year.

Negotiations on pilot pay were successfully concluded at 14 of our 15 bases (excluding Dublin) at the end of April. Pilots at 13 bases have voted for a one year deal with a basic pay increase of 1.8%, whilst the Luton base voted for a 4 year deal which incorporated a 5% pay increase this year, as well as improved rosters. The Dublin pilots continued to absent themselves from these direct negotiations with the company, as is their right and consequently they have not yet negotiated any pay increase this year.

We are also continuing to campaign for the breakup of the BAA airport monopoly in the UK. We welcome the OFT’s recent announcement that it is considering looking into the BAA’s monopoly over the main London Airports. It should examine why the BAA is pushing ahead with plans to spend some £4b on a second runway at Stansted that should only cost around £1b. The contradiction between the BAA’s position 3 months ago – that it couldn’t afford to build this runway in Stansted without doubling passenger charges – with its recent announcement that it will return over £1 billion to its shareholders this year, is typical of the overcharging monopoly. This clearly demonstrates how the BAA has been featherbedding its balance sheet, at the expense of airline users and the travelling public. It also proves that the CAA has failed to regulate this overcharging monopoly in the interests of users. Competition between the London airports will improve facilities and reduce costs. Regulation has clearly failed.

Ryanair’s fleet will increase by 30 aircraft between September 2006 and April 2007. We will launch a large number of new routes and bases at the worst time of the year, and we expect that Winter trading will be negatively effected by a combination of this capacity expansion, much higher oil prices (compared to last year) and further price dumping by loss making competitors who will be trying to survive next Winter.

Accordingly we remain cautious about our profit guidance for the coming year. Whilst we are confident that traffic will grow by 20% to 42m passengers and yields will be flat, we expect that profit growth will be more modest in the +5% to +10% range if oil prices remain at $70 a barrel. Profitability will also be more seasonally pronounced due to the presence of Easter in Q.1, the impact of competitor fuel surcharges, and the higher proportion of “sun routes operated this Summer. We expect that in excess of 85% of annual profits (compared to 80% last year) will be earned in the first half of this fiscal year, and thereafter profitability in Q.3 and Q.4 will be reduced (against last years comparables) as the proportion of annual profits earned in the last two quarters falls to less than 15% of the annual total.

It is Ryanair’s resolute commitment to offering the lowest fares in every market which has made us Europe’s largest low fares airline. Shortly we will become the “World’s Favourite” airline, as we expect to overtake Lufthansa’s international passenger traffic later this year, thereby making Ryanair the world’s largest international scheduled airline by passenger numbers. Ryanair will continue to deliver the lowest costs and the lowest air fares in Europe for the benefit of our customers, our people and our shareholders.”

Ryanair pulling out of Sweden?
 

On the ryanair website it is not possible to book any tickets between Sweden and the rest of Europe after the 28th of October 2006. Why is this?

It is fully possible to book between all other destinations and bases in Europe after the 28th of October. But not to and from Sweden??

Hmmm....

28TH OCT would be the start of the Winter schedules so maybe they've not finalised their Swedish timetable yet??

I cant book DUB-REU after October either, I checked Dublin - Stansted too and have the same problem... maybe something to do with fuel hedging as Ryanair normally allow booking further ahead than this. I strongly doubt its related to route closures.

Ryanair record profits
 

The Proof is in the balance sheet.

No doubt these are excellent results, but what is the balance sheet effect and P&L effect of selling & leasing back 738s?

No more expansion from STN
 

MOL was "interviewed" on BBC Look East last night and stated that RYR would no longer be looking to expand out of STN because apart from the horrendous BAA charges (or some such similar phrase) there was no room to expand further. He went on to say that expansion would be elsewhere .. with inference being "not in the UK".

Southwest President Slams Ryanair
 

Southwest President Ms. Colleen Barrett has severely criticised Ryanairs treatment of passengers in a recent interview for television.

Quote
''I would describe his airline (Michel O' Learys) as a cheap airline and when I say that I mean no disrespect. We pride ourselves on being a low fares carrier but I don't think we are cheap.'

She went on to say 'I can't see myself telling someone they got to pay to check their bag in or to carry their bag on.'

'I feel too proud of what our people have done that I wouldn't say he has copied our complete model'

Ms Barrett of Southwest which, clearly, she does. :cool:

If only MoL had ears but he has taken a reliable marketing formula and applied it to airlines, thus benefitting from being the first to do so.

Cheap and nasty nicely describes RYR management... Wonder if The Camel will even show up on this thread - doubt it.

Cheap and nasty?

How's about affordable and simple. While possibly not the most popular airline among the pilot fraternity, they have provided a huge number of jobs, they have kick-started quite a number of local economies and have provided air travel to hundreds of thousands of people who couldn't have dreamt of affording air travel 15-20 years ago.

sr

Which is precisely what Southwest have done, in case you havent noticed:hmm:
There are huge differences between Ryanair and Southwest, however a couple of key things come to mind from a SLF's point of view.
1. Dont expect any customer service from Ryanair, at Southwest you receive a similar level of service to a full-service airline..:ok:
2. Most of the Cabin crew speak english as a FIRST language unlike Ryanair.
3. A genuine attempt is made by Southwest to provide a pleasant experience (within the confines of a Lo Co model)..anyone here felt the same way about Ryanair?
As employees...the difference becomes more like night and day, and without going into tedious detail..I know who I would prefer to work for...and the name doesnt start with "R"
:)
Southwest are perfectly entitled to castigate Ryanair...after all, they are bigger than Ryan..and can afford better lawyers. :)

speedrestriction

And Gadaffi has revolutionised the medical system in Libya.

Southwest have done all of those things without being cheap (in the personal sense).
What is your point?

Southwest are succesful in their territory, Ryanair is succesful over here, in theres.

What does Ms. Barrett know about the European market with regards to passenger requirements, Passenger's disposable income, Route charges, fuel charges etc (especially compared to the States)??

Does she have the full picture available to her to lambast MoL?? He has done very well over here - of course southwest are bigger - look at the difference in population for Gods sake!

If she has the perfect model, let her come over here and try it - without using any resources form the highly sucessfuul and popular Southwest. That would make the competition fair!

Example
 

Speedrestriction,

I see from your profile you are student pilot - that's great - I hope your course is going well - it's certainly a good time to get qualified.

Maybe you're considering Ryanair when you qualify? Why not, it'd be great to get a first job on a 737 right? Many of us did.

Just an example for you - one of my friends has just been offered a place as a cadet with Ryanair. The deal is:-

he has to pay for his own 737 rating (20k plus)
he receives no salary or payments at all during training
he has to pay all his own accommodation / transport / meal costs during simulator AND line training (40+) sectors for which they can send you anywhere in Europe
Once his base check is complete his salary is £680 a month
He gets NO SECTOR pay at all for 6 months after base saftey pilot release
Half sector pay for the following 6 months

I know young cadets who are so short of money they are sleeping in cars and relying on cabin crew to give them a muffin when they go to work for 12 hours. Ryanair management are nasty.

Don't even get me started on how they treat the cabin crew.. let's just say cheap and nasty is an understatement.

And all this while they post record profits of 302 million!

Anotherthing

You have clearly not read or possibly understood what she said.
Ryanair are very successful financially, no question.
She criticized Ryanairs treatment of passengers. That has nothing to do
with location, customer care is customer care.

As for your comment ref. population I suggest you retake Geography, you will find that the population of Europe far exceeds The USA with a far greater density of population.

As far as locos go, Southwest seems far more like the late, very much missed, buzz.

That was a loco which offered a very pleasant travelling experience indeed!

It would be very interesting indeed if the president of Southwest were to travel incognito on Ryanair and then to report her findings!

speedrestriction does tell one side of the story when he says:

"How's about affordable and simple. While possibly not the most popular airline among the pilot fraternity, they have provided a huge number of jobs, they have kick-started quite a number of local economies and have provided air travel to hundreds of thousands of people who couldn't have dreamt of affording air travel 15-20 years ago. "

But I would add cheap and nasty for the pax too. I think the service levels on your average cattle wagon are probably higher. But you get what you pays for I suppose.

Given a choice between joining SouthWest and Ryanair I think know who would have the longer queue. However SouthWest require closer to 2000 hours than 200. So obviously some will take up the muffin diet just to get started.

As an example of SLF, I've flown with both Ryanair and SouthWest.

There is simply no contest ... SouthWest treat you like a human being .. Ryanair do not. I no longer fly Ryanair unless I can avoid it. Sadly some European SLF who have only flown lo-co with Ryanair think that they are the norm.

Having flown on both airlines on a multitude of times. I have to agree, Southwest is a class act why Ryannair is cheap and nasty.

Saying that, I will fly on Ryanair again as I know I will normaly find the cheapest price with them, and I am prepared to accept what I pay for.

Southwest on the other hand do not necessarily have the cheapest fairs anymore.

You get what you pay for.

I think you will find that the same is true of Ryanair. In fact it is always worth checking out the "high cost" airlines which can surprise on occasions!

Lets not actually forget Flybe were the first to introduce paying to load your bags.

Is there a reason that everything is always Ryanairs fault, or is it just sport something you dont agree with therefore oh what the hell lets blame Ryanair.

In some measure or another, hidden or not everything Ryanair does most others do.

Yeah and they are mostly American which is mostly English Speaking or Spanish/hispanic
Ryanair covers all of europe, and under EU law employs from all of europe, hence not everyones first language is English.
Same as in all others threads, you cant do a comparison unless it is like for like. These maybe both Lo-Co's but certainly nothing like each other

I think it is a sobering thought for all of us in the airline industry (and especially those considering mortgaging houses to pay for their training) that what we are talking about here are the lucky few who actually get a job at all at the end of their training.

Anotherthing,

As SLF I would dearly love Southwest to come over to Europe. Maybe they will. JetBlue would also be very welcome. Might just make Ryanair get to grips with passenger satisfaction and customer service.

Good grief. The slightest comment and the FR bashers are out in force again with exaggeration to the fore. The original comments hardly constitute a 'slamming' and as several posters have commented Ryanair are successful in their own marketplace.

In my experience 'cheap' as regards fares they are, 'nasty' they are not. Obviousy some people have had bad experiences (mostly because they do not read or even want to understand the rules) but personally I have had more bad experiences and inept customer service from some of the 'full fare' airlines like BA & BMI than I have had with Ryanair.

As for the guys who made comments about FR pilots not speaking English - get a grip - I take it you guys will never fly with any 'foreign' airline!:rolleyes:

10secondsurvey -

you miss my point - Does Ms. Barrettt understand the costs of things over here??

I would love to see competition in the form of an airline like southwest; I just think that with the higher fuel costs etc, MoL is doing a very good job, business wise.

The way he treats his staff is another issue; though despite all the threads warning about how pilots are treated, they still flock to ryr, then complain.

worldwidewolly -

2 things... if the customers are treated so badly, why are the numbers on the increase, yet again. If you pay very low prices, something has to give; it's not as if RYR are flying as tired fleet of A/C and saving money that way.

Population - I am more than aware of how many people there are in europe and in the US. However, it's a hell of a lot easier for 1 american company to provide a service to all of it's own population than it is for one company (RYR) to try to break into foreign european countries. Despite all the talk about a united European Union, our friends on the continent do not bend over and take things so easily as our governement seems to. Because of this indigenous population, Southwests immediate customer base is far larger.

I'm no fan of Ryanair, and I have sympathy for pilots being taken on under the condiditons described by buttline, but the harsh reality is that they get away with it because they can. If they couldn't recruit any pilots, they would have to change their conditions. The reality is that new ATPL holders will put up with anything to get at the pointy end of a jet, and if that means accepting grotty conditions in the hope that the likes of BA will show an interest later, so be it. While that continues the likes of Ryanair will take advantage.

The bottom line is that the majority of pax are only looking for the cheapest flight that goes to roughly where they want to go - or at least what they believe to be the cheapest one through the magic of advertising. They really don't care how they are treated etc. as long as they get to where they want - and treat the flight as though it were just a bus or train journey - and view the pilots as just better trained bus/train drivers!

Very few people will pay extra to fly with an airline because of moral objections to how the cheaper airlines treat their pax/staff. I am proud to be one of those merry few - and have/do/will pay extra - but I bet RyanAir could not care less.

Until pax start voting with their feet and stop using them, RyanAir will continue to go from strength to strength. For things to change, it will require that a cheaper competitor emerges (which is unlikely) or there is an accident that can be laid at the feet of the management. So in a perverse way, I have to hope that they do continue to be successful - because the majority of the pax will not change their views or perceptions.

Exactly - it is just a bus ride - no magic, or glamour, just get on, sit for a while and get off.

Maybe we should tip the driver...

Zwitter,

If we did then perhaps the cadets would be able to afford to eat and sleep in proper beds?

The downside though is that I am sure some evil management type would then assume that the average tip for flight and cabin crew would be x euros and then reduce the pay by that amount (or more?). I hope I have not given any evil management types any ideas!

Indeed..and look what happened to them. Oh yeah, they lost shedloads of money and got gobbled up at a bargain price by.....Ryanair.


They might, but they'd probably be driven back. The marketplace here is very different from the USA, plus it would be more likely to drive Ryanair into a price war - and look how that has ended up for other airlines who have tried to intrude on Ryanair's territory. Not very well - Ryanair simply undercut them until they bled so much they had to pull out.

Judging by what I have read here, many of you jumping to condemn Ryanair did not see the interview. You are just diving in, at the first opportunity to slam the airline for whatever reasons you may have. The thread title is misleading.

I DID see the interview. The lady did NOT slam Ryanair, but she did point out the difference in culture between Ryanair & Southwest, and in fact, she and the programme makers were complimentary of MO'L's skill to turn a huge lossmaker into such a profitable organisation. He was also complimented for his "cojones" to place one of the biggest aircraft orders ever, when the airline business was heading for collapse after 9/11. Unfortunately no-one can deny his ability to make a buck.

I have no allegiance to Ryanair, but you get what you pay for, and probably expect no more or no less. Their recruitment and HR policies might leave a lot to be desired, but most of their crew that I know, are a happy bunch and have no plans to leave, contrary to what some contributors would have us believe.

I do not like the experience of travelling (occasionally) on their aircraft, but they give a service, and I am prepared to accept it whenever I use them. At times they are no worse than some of the legacy carriers. If they gave a seat allocation, it could take away much of the hassle.

I take particular exception to the post from atyourcervix73. The word "Pikey" is a most derogatory term, which has an Irish background, and I consider it to be racist. From your ratings, you do not work for Ryanair, and while you state your "opinion" to be "humble", I think it is either a direct result of your education, or some sort of superiority complex. I would appreciate if you would withdraw the remark.

Being Irish, like the programme makers, I am happy to see two very successful Irishmen (like them or not) at the helm of two of the biggest european airlines.

[QUOTE=SFI145]Apologies for the derail, but I keep reading this, and I can't believe it. How can people afford to do this?