Ryanair profits dip on higher fuel costs, pilot pay

IRISH no-frills airline Ryanair on Monday said that its first-quarter profit had dropped more than a fifth on higher fuel costs and salaries for pilots.

Profit after tax slid 22 percent to € 309.2 million ($362 million) in the three months to the end of June compared with a year earlier.

The earnings update comes as Rya- nair faces strikes this week by some pilots and cabin crew despite group efforts in recent months to improve pay and conditions.

Referring to its first quarter, Ryanair noted that “staff costs increased by 34 percent primarily due to pilot 20 percent pay increases, nine percent more flight hours and a three percent general pay increase for our nonflight staff ”.

The Dublin-based low-cost carrier noted also that oil prices had “risen substantially from $50 per barrel at this time last year to almost $80 per barrel”.

Yet another strike

Some of Ryanair’s Ireland-based pilots will carry out a third one-day strike on Tuesday, resulting in the cancellation of 16 flights.

And the airline has cancelled 600 flights in Europe that had been due Wednesday and Thursday, owing to strikes by cabin crew staff in Spain, Portugal and Belgium.

“Despite signing pilot and cabin crew union recognition agreements in our major markets – the UK and Italy, and a recent agreement in Germany . . . progress has been slower in smaller markets,” Ryanair said in Monday’s statement.

“While we cont i nue to act ively engage wit h pi lot a nd cabin crew unions across Europe, we ex pect f urt her strikes over t he peak summer period as we are not prepared t o c o n c e d e t o u n r e a s o n a b l e dema nds t hat w i l l comprom i se eit her our low fa res or our hig hly ef f icient model,” it added.

Ryanair on Monday added that its passenger traffic grew seven percent to 37.6 million in its first quarter, while revenue increased nine percent to almost € 2.1 billion.