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RYANAIR HAS PROMISED to pass on most – if not all – of the extra cash it expects to take in from the sudden plunge in global oil prices through cheaper airfares.
It comes as the budget airline announced it was forecasting bigger-than-expected profits this financial year for the fifth time due to booming passenger numbers.
Ryanair now expected to reap up to €850 million over the full 12 months and the airline is also sitting on a war chest of €447 million in cash – most of which it will use to buy back shares from investors.
The low-cost carrier said its customers were up 14% to 20.8 million for the three months to the end of December, while profits for the traditional slow season hit €49 million – compared to a loss of €35 million for the same time in 2013.
The airline will open three new bases in Bratislava, Copenhagen and Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, from March and April.
Cheaper flights on the way
But most importantly for punters, Ryanair said its main goal was to keep increasing passengers numbers – rather than trying to make more money from existing customers.
The airline has been buying its fuel in advance for as far ahead as 2017 to make the most of 11-year oil price lows, although it said some rivals would enjoy the benefits of cheaper fuel straight away leading to “downward pressure on airfares” over the next two years.
As lower oil prices kick in over the next two years, Ryanair intends to pass on much, if not all, of these savings to our rapidly growing customer base in the form of lower fares and therefore our profit growth expectations will be modest (next financial year),” it said.
The ‘cash machine’ continues
In a briefing note, Davy airline analyst Stephen Furlong said “Ryanair’s cash machine” was continuing with the latest results.
He said it looked like the airline would be profitable through all quarters of the year, including over the traditional winter lulls.
However, the airline’s share price still took a small hit this morning after it warned investors and analysts to “temper expectations” on its performance for 2016 because of price competition.
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Time to allow people to register and comment on here without needing a twitter/Facebook account.
How then could you identify trolls?
I Agree, its time thejournal switch to the Disqus system instead. (http://disqus.com/websites/)
@paul think he means people would have to register on the journal instead so trolls would still be identified. I think as people are forced more & more to have social network accounts just to interact on the web it will cause vast numbers to go to the “deep” web forums where they can still be anonymous & post.
twitter=contributors, facebook=trolls tom! , great balls of fire alway come in circles?just look at the sun muse!- on second thoughts dont do that!, i think facebook cud take off again!- a second wind!- just change a poke to a slap…they say it will lose the young…but being young is a fault that diminishes daily ! Cheer up tom! -Muse! Remember the less facebook friends you have, the more there is to get! try to snip the wind between logins tom
what’s a troll
A supernatural being in Scandinavian folklore
AnnMarie! A troll is an idealist! – someone who wants to change the world..to spread peace , justice and.to ensure the survival and the success of liberty.
examples are – mary robinson, bono, clare daly , luke ming flanagin
Facebook: a dreadful waste of internet space and time.
Facebook: the best spying machine every invented for NSA to track everything on you. family, friends, commutations, etc. all stored in the US and accessible to US intelligence. you make it so easy for them!
You ok hun pm me xxxxxx
Yeah we freely give the spies everything on us. I agree, wont drop off a huge pile. They have expanded to mobiles now. Be like saying text messages including whatapp dead in a year. Wont happen. My space was not innovative. Bebo was just pure scutter. Facebook not bad.i keep in touch with overseas family but by and large id not use it never really did
I use Facebook a lot less now. I feel embarrassed putting up what I think on it. I only use it to post cool pics to show off to people. Very pathetic I know
To an extent, I agree with them. Facebook is kingpin only until something better comes along. The problem is they are trying to say that social networks have a lifespan and not that they were killed by a competitor. Myspace died when Bebo came along. Bebo was seen off by Facebook. They would want to be especially prescient to know who is going to invent the Facebook killer and when.
We see similar in the Search Engine world. First there was AltaVista. Then everyone moved to Yahoo. Then Google came along. Looking at the history of the first two, we might have expected Google to last three years. A decade later, it’s still around.
Complicating the picture further, both Facebook and Google have now evolved into something so rich in functionality that it becomes increasingly expensive for anyone to create an alternative.
Imo Facebook doesn’t come close to Google in terms of functionality and diversity. Google has soaked itself right into the every aspect of the world wide Web. Google have also been working on endless technology that has nothing to even do with their website.
If I see one more “look how cute my baby is” photo, I’ll nut someone!
It still amazes me that you cannot actually comment on so called journalistic websites like thejournal.ie and irishtimes.ie without a twitter or facebook a/c. These corporate websites are not services – they are companies. At least the disqus comment system lets you comment with other options or the guardian.com lets you create a guardian login.
By giving no other option thejournal.ie are just slaves to the facebook system of profile advertising aimed at individuals and their privacy. Forcing web users to use their real identities is what has created so many problems for kids being stalked and internet bullying.
@marko its an internet ID by the back door forcing people to log in using social networks.
I read an article recently that said teenagers are already leaving Facebook in favour if twitter and snapchat as there is too much potential for parental spying on Facebook lol. So I would say the decline has begun already. Sooner the better, then we won’t gave to be hearing about the best boyfriend/ girlfriend. Hubby/wife child dog life job and so on. If only everyone’s life was as good and interesting as their Facebook life then there would be no need for Facebook at all lol
Catherine you’ve said it! Facebook in the long run will only serve to make people sad.
Catherine, I never understand why facebook are so focused on teenagers. They all go to school and see their friends everyday. Why do they need to go on facebook? They are too busy with school, actitivies and homework. If I was in school, I would have no interest in facebook.
The problem with facebook is they are so focusing on the younger market rather than everyone. I am about to leave facebook if they change AGAIN. It is quite irritating as they are not suiting us and changing the privacy settings all the time. They are only making us more exposed when most of us want to be private on facebook with friends only.
“If only everyone’s life was as good and interesting as their Facebook life then there would be no need for Facebook at all ” – Very true indeed. I find facebook has stopped people ringing you up to see how you are, how was your day, etc as well. It is actually anti-social as well. Not sure if everyone finds the same.
A pure blight.
bebo went out of fashion quicker than a leper. FB will be the same I’d say. It’s awkward and not as user friendly as it could be. Nor is it moving with the times. Makes sense it’ll go into decline. The sooner the better imo.
“Works at ” full time mammy to my beautiful princess………………………………DIE
I can’t argue with their comments
“but not yet peer-reviewed”
That’s as far as I need to read.
Need or are able?
A self filled spreadsheet for marketing companies, I found out guy I knew passed away on fb hours after it happened, what about family & friends?
I don’t have a Facebook account and when people find out that I’m not on it, they are shocked. But to tell the truth, it really is a waste of time.
How do you know?
80% in 3 years…
Doubtful.
There is a strong school of thought that sees FB as a tool created for the sole reason of spying on the public
If it wasn’t it was utilised in that way
The NSA/CIAs wet dream.
Well I hate the way they read my statuses but never like any of them
Ah will you read the research!!! It’s totally flawed when you actually read it see where Princeton got their data from!!! (Also, this was news yesterday and debunked already today)
It’s dropping off with the younger generation, because their parents are on it,. but it’s still getting more subscribers every day…
Agreed – their research was taken from Google link stats. However over 40% of FB’s traffic is now driven from mobile devices. Apps that don’t require browser click-through. They are honest in their research but their conclusions are questionable. Facebook will decline over time, but nowhere near that level that quickly. Critical mass has been met in the older generation.
Possibly the best and worst creation ever !
I’ll answer this question with a question… Is anything in life permanent?…… Facebook will go the way of Bebo and the Dodo…..its just a matter of time
So will you
Tis great for finding out how hot it is in Australia though
shareholders = running for the hills now !
Facebook dead by 2017? Microsoft to buy it next year then.
Clearly didn’t factor in funny cat pictures coefficient in the model so doesn’t reflect reality. You can debate whether facebook is good or a time waster. It’s here to stay. Not up for debate.
I’m sure Bebo said the same at some point…
Consider that few grannies or parents were on Bebo. Schools didn’t have Bebo sites. Don’t remember many companies putting its logo on their vans. Can we even continue to compare them now that Facebook has such a reach as it does?
Agree Winston. Facebook is a phenomenon. I had a myspace, very few of my friends did, never mind my parents, aunties, uncles…etc. Then I had a Bebo, that caught on with most of my friends, but my parents, aunties, uncles…etc had no interest.
Then Facebook came along. Everyone is on it, people learn to use computers just to be on it. It’s just part of life now, just like Google or YouTube or smartphones.
Its more hassle than its worth really,
Dear journal.ie.
Please have a little backbone and step back from the corporate monster.
Your agenda is obviously in tune with it but I just thought I’d ask.
Allow the readers here to post their thoughts without jumping through their hoops just to contribute to your fine paper.
Go on. Surprise everybody.
It does seem to be dying away a bit very rarwly post just looking for jokes
Got board of FB ages ago. Still have to use it but twitter all the way
Nonsense. Try comparing Facebook to Google, rather than MySpace. Facebook is evolving all the time, it won’t fade like MySpace.
can i ask what a troll is ??
See above
I thought that there was only five people left using it and they are the ones who spend a day coming up with naff philosophical graphics about how good life is and how you should be true to yourself and stop the seal slaughter and love your daughter etc ad infinitum et nauseum. Everyone else just hits the share button with a silly comment if they can manage it while driving.
Facebook is the single biggest most waste of time ever. Young people don’t know how to socialise anymore because of it . People use social networks to behave in a way that is not acceptable in normal life. So many idiots now online. The world’s productivity must have dropped when it was released it should be banned.
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