It’s plane sailing

Ryanair head for record profit despite fiasco

RYANAIR reckon they will still make record profits this year, despite taking a £60million hit from their cancelled flights fiasco.

The budget giants shelled out £22million compensation in September alone to passengers whose bookings were ruined by a pilot rostering blunder.

The carriers were also forced to offer pilots better pay which, if accepted by crew, will cost them £40million this year and about £90million annually going forward.

Ryanair claimed they paid them 22 per cent more than rivals Norwegian Airlines, with “much better job security”.

But they face a showdown with Stansted based 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 per cent to 72.1million in the six months to the end of September, before most of the disruption, but growth forecasts in the second half have been lowered, with their full year passenger target cut from 131million to 129million.

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

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 voted to accept a pay deal ending their long-running dispute, the union Unite announced.