The CEO of Ryanair Group, Michael O'Leary, expressed satisfaction with the strong bookings for September and October. He also believes that the rebound of travel from Asia will help keep European ticket prices high next summer.
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However, he expressed concern about the price of oil and its impact on the profit outlook for the year. Ryanair is Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers. O'Leary expressed optimism that the company is still on track to reach about 183-184 million passengers, which is 20-23% higher than pre-COVID numbers.
In August, the airline had a load factor of 96%, carrying 18.9 million passengers. O'Leary expects Asian travel to Europe to recover to about 60% of its pre-COVID volumes next summer but notes that the closure of Russian airspace to non-Chinese airlines has impacted the recovery of Asian traffic. Ryanair has seen a strong rebound in non-leisure travel to lower-wage parts of central, east, and south Europe, as well as Morocco.
O'Leary attributes this to small European manufacturers replacing suppliers from Asia as part of a "nearshoring" boom. To cope with oil price risk, Ryanair has hedged 85% of its fuel needs until the end of its fiscal year (FY) in March 2024. O'Leary expects air travel in Asia to recover strongly, which will help traffic across Europe in the summer of 2024. However, he notes that this may cause demand for jet oil to rise. Ryanair is also expanding in central and eastern Europe and is making more inroads into rival Wizz Air's core markets. The group is adding a new country, Albania, this winter and expanding in Romania, Hungary, and Poland. O'Leary notes that the trend seems to be Ryanair expanding into their markets and they're retreating further east and into the Middle East.