Strikes ground Ryanair profits

RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary took a near £70million hit yesterday as the budget airline warned crew strikes and rising fuel prices would hammer profits.

Shares in the Irish carrier crashed 12 per cent, wiping £1.6billion off their market value as they revealed a catalogue of costs. The airline are reeling from strikes by pilots and cabin crew across Europe. Axed flights have hit customer confidence and bookings, especially over October half-term and Christmas, are down.

O’Leary said: “Two co-ordinated strikes by cabin crew and pilots across five EU countries have affected passenger numbers.”

Rising oil prices have pushed up jet fuel costs, with Ryanair’s bill to soar by £400million by spring.

The airline have cut their full-year profits forecast by 12 per cent to between £978million and £1billion – down from the £1.3billion they made the previous year.

Ryanair responded by reducing their winter flights programme by one per cent. It will close bases at Eindhoven in Holland, and Bremen in Germany.

Yesterday’s slump left O’Leary nursing a £67million paper loss as Ryanair’s biggest shareholder. But his 4.06 per cent stake is still worth nearly £460million. O’Leary has cut winter flights Euro .................................................. 1.096 Australian Dollar ........................... 1.752 Bulgarian Lev ............................... 2.045 Canadian Dollar ............................. 1.619 Croatian Kuna ............................... 7.870 Czech Koruna ............................... 27.167 Egyptian Pound .......................... 20.251 New Zealand Dollar ..................... 1.899 Polish Zloty ................................... 4.466 South African Rand ................... 17.654 Swiss Franc .................................... 1.240 Thai Baht ...................................... 39.581 Turkish Lira .................................... 7.097 UAE Dirham ................................... 4.603 US Dollar .......................................... 1.271