Ryanair keeps year forecast despite fuel price

Ryanair said today it was not changing its profit forecast despite rising fuel costs and that it still expected to post a 10 …

Ryanair said today it was not changing its profit forecast despite rising fuel costs and that it still expected to post a 10 per cent rise in full-year earnings.

"We see no reason to change our guidance, nor would we raise our guidance," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said at the World Low-Cost Airlines summit in Amsterdam. "We had a fair idea of what fuel would be at the end of Q1 and we are almost fully hedged to the end of March."

Ryanair, Europe's largest no-frills carrier, said in August it expected a full-year net profit of €295 million, having reported a 21 per cent rise in net profit for the first quarter to end-June of £64.4 million.

Mr O'Leary also said he still expected yields, or average fares per passenger, to rise 1-2 per cent in the second quarter on the same period last year.

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However, he said market conditions remained challenging and it was difficult to predict what would happen this winter.

Mr O'Leary said the impact of high oil prices on European economies this winter may speed up Ryanair's growth but also reduce fares. "We suspect it should speed up our growth because more and more people will be price-sensitive on air travel but it will not be good for yields. It is too early to say yet," he said.

Ryanair hopes to increase traffic by 27 per cent to 35 million passengers this year.

Like most airlines, it faces a higher fuel bill this year with oil prices hitting new records above $70. The airline is unhedged for fuel in August but had locked in 90 per cent of its September volumes at $57 per barrel.

Thereafter it is hedged for 90 per cent of its needs until March at $47 per barrel.