LONDON: Irish no-frills airline Ryanair nosedived into the red in its first quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic decimated air travel demand and grounded fleets worldwide, the group said Monday.
Dublin-based Ryanair suffered a loss after taxation of 185 million euros ($216 million) in the three months to the end of June, or first quarter of its financial year, it revealed in a results statement.
The dire performance compared with net profit of 243 million euros in the same part of 2019 - but nevertheless beat its own forecast for a loss of 200 million euros. Passenger numbers tumbled 99 percent to just 0.5 million people in the first quarter compared with 42 million a year earlier, while more than 99 percent of the airline's fleet remained on the tarmac. Sales collapsed to 125 million euros from 2.312 billion. The airline meanwhile resumed flights across most of its network on July 1 and aims to operate around 40 percent of its schedule this month. That is expected to rise to 60 percent in August and 70 percent in September.