Ryanair sees profit expectation as rising passenger numbers

DUBLIN: Europe's biggest low-cost airline Ryanair sees its full-year profit at the upper end of expectations as rising passenger numbers and average fares help offset disruption from strike action and bad weather.

The Irish airline said it was on track to make net profit in the year to March towards the top of a 380 million euro ($517 million) to 400 million euro target range.

Ryanair, which operates more than 1,500 flights a day, said it made a net loss of 10 million euros in the third quarter to the end of December compared with an 11 million euro loss a year earlier and a forecast for a net loss of 13.4 million euros by in-house broker Davy.

"This small Q3 loss is disappointing, as we were on track to break even, but earnings were hit by a series of air traffic controllers (ATC) strikes compounded by a spate of bad weather airport closures in December," said CEO Michael O'Leary.

Ryanair did not quantify the cost of the disruption. Rival easyJet said last week it took a 31 million pound hit from the big freeze and strikes last year.

UBS said Ryanair's third quarter performance was better than expected and estimated around 10 million euros had been knocked off the company's profits.

"Ryanair was less impacted by December winter stoppages and ATC strikes than easyJet," UBS analysts said in a research note.

Shares in Ryanair, which had lost around 10 percent of their value over the last three weeks on fears over the impact from the disruption, were up 3.4 percent to 3.75 euros at 0801 GMT.

Ryanair cancelled over 3,000 flights in the third quarter compared with over 1,400 cancellations in the previous year.

The company said last month it would take legal action against Spanish unions over an ATC strike which forced it to cancel 500 flights.

O'Leary said he expected passenger numbers and average fares to continue to benefit in the fourth quarter from a better mix of new routes. The airline has offset weakness in the domestic economy by growing in lower cost markets such as Spain and Italy.

O'Leary also said Ryanair had been protected from significant rises in oil prices in recent months by its fuel hedging strategy. The airline is 90 percent hedged for the fourth quarter at a price of $750 per tonne compared with the current spot price of $890 per tonne, it said.  Ryanair said it was benefiting from flag carriers being weakened by raising their prices through putting fuel surcharges on many short haul flights.