Ryanair warning of increase of up to ten per cent for holiday flight prices
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’leary has warned flight prices could rise by nearly 10 per cent this summer due tosoaringdemandforeuropean holidays.
He said holidaymakers should brace for prices to rise by a “high single-digit per cent” over the peak season as demand for breaks on European beach resorts rebounds thanks to the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions.
He also said there were likely to be ongoing delays at airports, blaming staff shortages.
Mr O’leary said there were “pinch-points”, in particular at Heathrow and Manchester, where he claimed “too many people” have been sacked.
He said he hoped to see the worst of the delays ease off in time for the busy summer season, but stressed it would still be a “challenge” for passengers getting through UK airports.
The comments came as Ryanair reported annual underlying losses narrowing to €355 million (£302m) and said it hoped to return to “reasonable profitability” in the current financial year.
But the company cautioned that despite a bounce back in passengers and bookings, the recovery “remains fragile”.
Mr O’leary’s comments mark the latest pricing alert ahead of the peak season, after holiday giant Tui last week said it would not be offering lastminute, low-price deals this summer due to a recovery in customer demand.
Ryanair signalled prices would ramp up over the next few months in the sector due to a cut of about 15 per cent in European flight programmes across the sector over the summer.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “For the September-quarter at the moment, based on about 50 per cent of all bookings, we expect prices will be up high single digit per cent.
“It seems to us that there will be higher prices into that peak summer period because there’s so much demand for the beaches of Europe and
those price rises going to continue.”
The group said its peak fares for this summer may rise above those seen before the
pandemic struck.
The group’s loss for the year to March 31 was smaller than expected and narrowed from the €1.02 billion (£867m) lossesseenthepreviousyear,when trading was badly impacted by the pandemic.