Ryanair slashes air travel outlook

In this article:

Second-wave fears have got Ryanair worried.

Europe's biggest budget airline cut its annual passenger target by a quarter on Monday (July 27).

And it's warned a rise in new infections could lower that further.

The warning knocked its shares down around 6% in early trade, despite the carrier reporting a smaller than expected loss during its April to June lockdown.

The Irish airline posted a loss of 185 million euros, or 216 million dollars, for the three months to June 30th.

It was the period when it cut 99% of capacity as Europe locked down.

That was Ryanair's first-ever loss in the quarter.

And the company's CEO said its "full-year guidance of 60 million passengers is tentative at this point in time and it could go lower".

Michael O'Leary added that a second wave of covid cases across Europe in Autumn is the biggest fear right now.

In addition to the closure of airport bases already announced in Germany, closures could be on the cards in Spain and in Italy unless pay cuts can be agreed with staff.

Ryanair has seen a hit to bookings in recent days in the wake of a surge of infections in Barcelona.

On Saturday (July 25), the British government abruptly imposed a two-week quarantine on all travellers arriving from Spain, due to the surge.

Ryanair described the move as "regrettable" and said it has no plans to cut capacity between the two countries.

Advertisement