Dublin airline Ryanair to post loss of €350m despite passenger numbers recovering

Ryanair has warned it expects to post a loss of at least €350m (£294M) as it narrowed its guidance for the past year.

It came as the budget airline said its passenger numbers “recovered strongly” but were still more than a third below pre-pandemic levels.

The Dublin-based company said it will report a net loss of between €350m (£294m) and €400m (£336m) for the year to the end of March.

Ryanair previously guided the market to a loss of between €250m (£210m) and €450m (£378m).

The airline tumbled to an €815m (£702m) loss in the previous financial year due to an 81% plunge in customer traffic due to pandemic restrictions.

The group told shareholders on Monday that passenger numbers increased to more than 97 million for the year to March, compared with 27.2 million in the year to March 2021.

However, restrictions in some regions, particularly at the start of the financial year, mean it remains significantly below pre-Covid traffic of 149 million customers.

The group, which release its full results next month, said it has reduced its net debt from €2.3bn (£1.9bn) to €1.5bn (£1.25bn) over the past year as it continues to stabilise its operations.

Ryanair said it has also increased its hedging to cover 80% of its fuel, amid significant volatility in oil prices sparked by the conflict in Ukraine.

In a separate update, Ryanair said that it had 11.2 million passengers last month, representing its strongest month since October.

It comes after a significant slump during the winter months as the spread of Omicron variant of Covid-19 and related restrictions impacted sentiment.