We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
RYANAIR’S SEEMINGLY ENDLESS stream of good results has turned up another bumper set of figures for the end of the UK financial year – with the airline reporting a 43% jump in full year profits.
The airline reported a profit of €1.24 billion to the end of March, up from €867 million during 2015.
This saw the airline carry more than 106 million passengers in the year, following on from news in January that Ryanair had become the first airline to break the 100 million mark for passengers flown in a calendar year.
The rise and rise of the budget airline has also seen boosts in a number of other key areas, with its revenue increasing from €5.65 billion up to €6.53 billion, and a 48% increase on the amount earned on each of its shares.
The airline’s load factor – the percentage of seats filled per flight – also rose by 5% up to 93%.
Ryanair / TwitterRyanair Full Year profit up 43% to €1,242m. Lower fares, AGB & cost control delivers strong traffic & profit growth https://t.co/VmiDuXRffO
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) May 23, 2016
So why all this success?
Back in 2014, Ryanair made a commitment to improve its customer service record, and since then its nice-over has been reaping results.
Speaking about its Always Getting Better (AGB) programme, CEO of the company Michael O’Leary said:
Our AGB service programme is attracting millions of new customers to our lowest fare/ lowest cost model.
Ryanair – at one time much maligned for its poor customer service – has made changes in a number of areas.
To try and boost customer services interiors of its aircrafts have been refitted, its website and mobile app have been overhauled and the selection of primary airports on offers has been increased.
This has seen the airline expand into new bases in Belfast, Berlin, Corfu, Gothenburg, Ibiza, Milan (Malpensa) and Santiago.
Plain sailing?
While it would be hard for the company to be pessimistic after such a bumper set of figures, there could be a few storm clouds on the horizon.
In a statement the company has said that it expects there to be a drop in fares over the coming year, with an Easter holiday not falling in the coming financial year and Ryanair’s competitors availing of lower oil prices.
Terrorist attacks and strikes by air-traffic controllers (which have mostly taken place in France) are also things that the airline expect to hit its profits next year.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Say what you want but there was a time where flying to Spain would easily cost 500 quid return with the monopoly that existed at the time. Ryanair have opened up Europe to all of us. Even if you do not fly with them there are the reason why Aer Lingus have dropped their prices so much since the 90s
Paid 500 quid (or €790) for two to travel one way to Heathrow a month in advance last week.
People who are not flying leisure routes to airports no where near the cities they are supposed to serve, have busy schedules or require flexibility are still paying that costs. Only now that have to put up with being heckled over baggage, cramped seats, no service and the ubiquitous hen party or lads piss up weekend at the airport or on the plane.
Thus I have nothing to thank Ryanair for and have only contempt for that man.
Not clever at all, booking a Heathrow flight so close to departure. The begrudgery of short sighted goons will never cease to amaze me. Thanks for making us proud to be Irish Michael and thanks for not dodging your taxes to the Irish tax exchequer unlike other greedy sods in your position.
When Irish companies do well on an international scale, why shouldn’t we trumpet their success? Of course there will be individual stories of poor customer service, which is hardly surprising considering the volume of passengers. Would you rather we never had a Ryanair and instead still be reliant on a heavily unionized bloated expensive aer lingus? The luas in the skies?
I love Ryanair they just don’t fly to Sweden anymore why leave out a country for the last three years the plane used to fill every day every flight and then cut announced for six months and never to return? SAS have two flights to Dublin starting today at extortionate prices Why aren’t they in there.
Did you fly with Aer Lingus? Ryanair don’t fly into Heathrow.
@Fake activist. Yes, charging for flights cheaper than your competitor is a rip off.
Where’s Wally?
I laughed when I saw the business commercials coming out!
I was on a business trip a while back and mistakenly took a Ryanair flight home, just after they brought out the one bag rule, I watched the 1 hour later Aer lingus flight hurtle down the runway while the air hostess marched up and down the bag queue looking for oversized bags!
I will never take a Ryanair flight again!
If only Michael O’Leary was in charge of the LUAS.
If only he was in charge of the country.
if he was it would be automated
Where’s Wally?
I thought the mention of capitalist success would be like chumming the water for sharks.
if only we could clone him!!!!!
Wally wants all the staff of Ryanair to get massive wage increases now because of these profits. What would Michael say to that?
He’s hungover was in coppers counting his coppers late last night
Or Irish rail
Even Wally cannot contest the fact that a return flight from Shannon to London mid 80s was in the region of 250 punts plus, I would love to know what that is in today’s money, i assume at least 7 – 800 euro?, flying was for the elite and rich. Ryanair have opened up flying to the extent it has revolutionized the entire travel industry but has also made it possible for working class people to fly and travel allover Europe. although having said that wally is mad enough to take on these proven facts.
@Colin, Yep funny that. I dont hear Wally’s solidarity with the Ryanair workers who earn absolute peanuts. The trolly dollies are likely earning less than the living wage and Micheal O’ Leary doesnt do trade unions. Thought this wpuld be gold for the AAA! Either way ill bet Wally has no problem of availing of cheap ryanair flights…. Regardless of his political idiologies he is still a cog in the machinary of Capitalism.
Fintan
Wally a cog in the machine of capitalism. Yes he helps promote because the alternative to capitalism is Wallyisim and that has no hope of survival. The Sad aspect here is much of capitalism is failing into crony capitalism mode and questions have to be asked, however gulags are not the answer.
Phenomenal success for one of our own in a very tough industry. No doubt low fuel costs really help but still fantastic to see a great Irish company doing so well on the international stage.
Their fuel was hedged at 90$ so it’s an even better success
Absolutely, I am very proud of Ryanair especially since they went all nice on us.
Would love if we could entice O Leary to get involved in running the country. But there’s little chance of it.
@Gareth Cooney
Little chance of Mr O’Leary taking on that poison chalice
They get so much stick but I’ve been flying Ryanair (among others) for 20 years and never had an issue with so much as a lost bag.
Yup, I really can’t fault them. You get exactly what you pay for.
They really improved the experience in the last few years too and that’s clearly paying off in spades.
Ya Fake, shame on them for making a profit. We should all ask the government to turn the country into a communist state really shouldn’t we.
Yes it’s a simple maths €1.24bn / 106 m passengers and the answer is €11.70 per person per year on average.
Yes fake. Sure you don’t really need profits for new places or anything.
*planes
Amazing results Ryanair and congratulations to Mr O’Leary and the team behind him. Well done all and continued success.
It’s a cost cutting model that the government could learn a lot from.
True.
Let’s employ everybody in the country on zero hour contracts, no holiday, no sick pay. Everybody employed as a contractor where they claim expenses from their tax.
Let the whole country go that way and see how long it takes for the economy to implode.
I worked as PAYE for 20 years and now I’m a contractor. If I don’t go in I don’t get paid. I have no holiday pay and I work harder now and I’m way more focused at work and I concentrate on retaining my job. I take nothing for granted and my employer is happy with my performance. Nobody owes me a job or a living.
If there was more with a similar attitude I don’t think they would cause the country to Implode.
Gareth
That’s ok if you have the skill set to do that. Cabin crew in Ryanair work under these conditions. At the drop of a hat they can be told we don’t need you for 2 months.
There must be a better way to run our society.
Tom, I thought the economy imploded some time ago.
Fake,
I’m actually one of the people who had to emigrate because of the recession. And you know what? It didn’t do me one bit of harm. The Irish are great people to work when they emigrate simply because they have to. There are other nations that are great too. So it’s survival of the fittest I’m afraid.
Tom
Skill sets come with being organized and paying attention. The Ryanair staff are trained to do their jobs without fear of being sacked. The lack of union involvement and zero contract hours are fall back weapons to be used against those who believe they are entitled to job and are owed a living. He’s avoiding the traps that the semi state companies fell into such as Aer Lingus.
Coming back on a late flight from UK last year & the aircraft had run out of tea bags. I was dying for a cuppa so the cabin crew member made me cup a tea from his own personal supply in his bag. I thought a) wow great customer service b) holy moly the cabin crew aren’t even allowed a cuppa from the onboard supplies. AGB indeed!
Never had a problem with Ryanair. First class service when my daughter was young flying over and back to the UK.
In an episode of The Late Late Show in the early 80′s Sir Freddy Laker (Skytrain) was asked the question ” why is it so expensive to fly from Dublin to London”. He replied that in his opinion the then cartell of airlines on that route “must be of the mistaken opinion “that London is a place in the mid-Atlantic based on their price structure”. I an urgent reason in 1982 to fly at short notice with two others one Friday evening and the 3 return tickets cost 1,150 punts. One could book 2 weeks in advance ( Apex Fare must include a Saturday night stay over) or 4 weeks in advance for Super Apex, (Saturday night stay over also mandatory) for a lessor fare. It was a complete monopoly Ryan Air learned lessons from Freddy Laker and did not let the big state airlines bankrupt them . Great that now the youngsters can travel so cheaply by air. Previous trips across on the mail boat and 6 train journey from Hollyhead to London were the endurance trials for my generation. Congratulations Ryan Air !
Well done Ryanair and great service. The were the only airline who would use Knock Airport at the beginning and are currently the largest operator at the airport. Providing vital links for the weekly UK commuting gang and delivering tourists directly into the west.
O’Leary changed the way we fly forever. Without him, we would still be paying 250 Euro each way to get to London.
Peter.
Where did you get this €250 euro one way from? It was expensive but €250 one way? No.
The average price from London to Dublin was about £150-£180 return in the late 80′s early 90′s.
Still way too expensive when we think it’s 35 years ago, however.
Does anybody really think if it wasn’t for O’Leary we would be still paying those prices? Does anybody really think that deregulation would have come about but there would be no competition because all of Europe would be waiting for an Irish cattle farmer to bring about competition?
I think we need a constitutional referendum to introduce wisdom as a requirement to vote.
Projecting £150 in 1985 out into today’s value would be €384.21
Well done Ryanair, truly an Irish company to be proud of.
I’d be interested to know how much tax they gave to this country on that revenue
To be honest I wouldn’t care if Ryanair didn’t pay a penny in tax. They amount of money they bring in in the form of tourist revenue must be enormous. Happier for people to spend more when they get here than on getting here.
You don’t care if they don’t pay a penny in tax. Really?
Hopefully you’ll never get to run this country Alan with a comment like that.
Of course as airplanes go both ways he is also bringing Irish people overseas to spend money there.
Using the power of the internet, it’s easy to see how much tax Ryanair pays. It’s explicitly stated in their results: €162.8m, which is 11.6% of their pre-tax profits. We don’t know which countries get how much, but it should give you an idea.
http://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ryanair-Results-FY2016.pdf – Income Statement on Page 6.
If they’re registered here that must be what they pay. Good work Daniel. At least they’re paying their fair share.
It’s better to pay less tax and put you profits back into the company creating employment than to give it to that shower to piss up against the walls of Dublin and on their own salaries.
Michael should buy a plantation in Mississippi.
Flew easyjet recently an service gone totally downhill. Last few flights with ryanair have been very fuss free after the changes on carry on allowances etc.
Congratulations Ryan Air.
Enjoyed flying with them.
Hope they can extend their operations overseas and arrive to new countries.
Hope they invest in leg room
His horses are also making big profits giddy up!
Good work Ryanair.
Blessed are the Globalist, Goat-Worshipping #Bilderbergers ’cause they profit from the Bogus, Parasitic #HoloHoax Religion and the #WhiteGenocide replacement of Europe’s Caucasians.
Blessed are the cheese makers! #LifeOfBrian
Mulqueen, whatever you’re on, it’s not doing you any good.
Go home Mulqueen, you’re drunk.
Let’s not dwell on personal opinions
I’ll deal in facts
I travel to Crete four or five times a year and have done for the last ten years
Approx 60-70 flights
Two negative experiences (both with our dismal flag carrier)
Several positive experiences (always with that plane with the harp on the tail)
But the bottom line is price
5 years ago 500-600 return
Today with our much maligned also ran €75-€150 return
I’m not a shareholder but I wish I was
I’m not a director but I know my limits
I’m purely an absolutes fan of this outstanding success story.
I’m sit and chuckle at the whingers whiners p!ssers and moaners who will slag off this magnificent entity in perpetuity.
If its such an abhorrence to fly with the blue and yellow
Off you go with the insipid green ladies
Appalling customer service combined with breathtaking tardiness
€250 Pisa to Dublin return, direct..could only book a week before due to work, not bad value Plenty of Irish shareholders making a few bob here I would guess, and a few jobs, good on them Good to see an Irish company compete with and succeed with the best of them
The Zionist Bilderberg Group -promoting the #HolocaustHoax since 1954 to guilt-trip Europe’s Caucasians to extinction.
. This page provides the latest hacking news, exploits and vulnerabilities for ethical hackers. long description this page provides the latest hacking news, exploits and vulnerabilities for ethical hackers. Please note that we are ethical hackers and as such only show you how to hack test systems and not other people. We are a professional carding team with a large ring around the globe. With over 2 million ATM infected with our malware and skimmers & we have been in existence since 2009 and have become ever more popular over the last year especially. The Hacking News And Tutorials has been internationally recognized as a leading source dedicated to promoting awareness for security experts and hackers. You can start making $9000.00 per day without getting caught and you can also use this opportunity to shop online. You can own a home and live a life a millionaire by acquiring our blank ATM cards to solve all your financial debts. Have you bee scammed searching for a loan or trying to get your compensation back from the Governments and got scammed, have you being scammed in any way or trying to get this blank ATM card, then have no more worries! We are Hacked-Wizard based in Nigeria that has changed the life’s of so many other and by getting rich with a card worth $20 Million United State Dollars. This card has been hacked for safety that you cant be traced no matter how you make use of the card, and its secured that the CCTV cant detect you during withdrawals and to know more about this blank ATM card, then send us an email: (atmclassicalworldhacker.hackersworld@outlook.com) We ship via DHL, standard shipping usually takes 7 days. All we need is your full name and address Order now, contact us:Webiste: http://classicalblankatmhackersworldwide.webs.com/
I’ve always been a fan of Ryanair – they revolutionised air travel for ordinary people in this country, but they need to urgently do something about their online system. The ‘live chat’ option hasn’t been working for days now, the FAQs don’t offer an answer to my question, and their telephone line is so busy it actually says ‘try again later’ and cuts you off. Really frustrating.
Take a look at @KylieJenner’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/KylieJenner/status/602988071596924928?s=09
have your say