DUBLIN (IRELAND) – Ryanair on Monday slashed its annual passenger target warning that a second wave of infections could lower that further. This sent its share down by 8% although it reported a smaller than expected loss during its April-June lockdown.
The airlines posted an after-tax loss of 185 million euros (168.64 million pounds) for the three months to June 30, when it slashed 99% of its capacity.
The Ireland-based carrier has slashed expectations for the rest of the fiscal, saying it expected to ferry 60 million passengers rather than the 80 million predicted in May. It was down from 149 million last year.
“Our full-year guidance of 60 million passengers is tentative at this point in time and it could go lower,” CEO Michael O’Leary said.
“A second wave of COVID-19 cases across Europe in late autumn … is our biggest fear right now,” O’Leary said.
“The forthcoming winter season looks foreboding for even the strongest operators,” Goodbody analyst Mark Simpson said, predicting “little upside to Ryanair until we get into the real recovery in their operations in the early spring”.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field