It’s plane sailing

Ryanair heads for record profit despite fiasco

RYANAIR reckons it will still make record profits this year despite taking a £60million hit from its cancelled flights fiasco.

The budget giant shelled out £22m compensation in September alone to passengers whose bookings were ruined by a pilot rostering blunder. The carrier was also forced to offer pilots better pay which, if accepted by crew, will cost it £40m this year and around £90m annually going forward. Ryanair claimed it paid them 22% more than rival Norwegian Airlines, with “much better job security”. But it faces a showdown with Stanstedbased pilots who have rejected a pay deal worth £135,600 a year according to the airline. Boss Michael O’Leary claimed the firm had dealt with the cancelled flights issue well. He said: “The test of any management team is the speed and effectiveness with which they respond to a crisis, and the pilot rostering failure in early September was just such a crisis.

“We have responded quickly to repair this failure, eliminate further cancellations and we are determined to invest the time and money to ensure it never recurs.”

Passenger numbers grew by 11% to 72.1 million in the six months to the end of September, before most of the disruption, but growth forecasts in the second half have been lowered to 4%, with its full year passenger target cut from 131m to 129m.

Half-year profits increased 11% to £1.1billion, with the full-year target kept at a record £1.27bn.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at brokers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Ryanair’s latest results have the usual swagger, with just a hint of contrition over September’s rostering fiasco.

“The numbers show little signs of weakness, but the reporting period only covers the start of the problems Ryanair had.”

British Airways cabin crew have overwhelmingly voted to accept a pay deal ending their long-running dispute, the union Unite has announced.