Irish no-frills airline Ryanair Holdings PLC yesterday announced a narrowing of losses during its first half as the lifting of travel restrictions saw passenger traffic more than double.
Ryanair’s net loss for the six months to the end of September came in at 48 million euros (US$55.54 million), which compared to a loss after tax of 411 million euros a year earlier.
The Dublin-based carrier that flies mainly throughout Europe said in its earnings statement that the group’s recovery primarily occurred during its second quarter, or three months to the end of September.
Photo: Reuters
“Following a very badly disrupted first quarter, which saw most Easter flights canceled and a slower than expected easing of EU government travel restrictions ... traffic rebounded in Q2 with the successful rollout” of the EU’s vaccine passport, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said.
Ryanair said its passenger numbers soared by 128 percent to 39.1 million in its first half.
Revenue increased 83 percent to 2.15 billion euros.
“In recent weeks, we have seen a surge in bookings for the October mid-term [school] and Christmas breaks and we expect this peak buoyancy to continue into Easter,” O’Leary said.
It still expects a full-year loss of 100 million to 200 million euros.
The company recently announced plans to create more than 5,000 jobs over the next five years as the aviation sector recovers. It was among the airlines that cut thousands of jobs last year as COVID-19 grounded planes.
The industry has since been boosted by the lifting of international travel restrictions — with full reopenings held back by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Ryanair said it is considering exiting the London Stock Exchange amid a material decline in share volumes in the wake of Britain’s split from the EU.
O’Leary said the step is an “inevitable consequence of Brexit” and the regulatory requirements the split presented, while chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said that less than 10 percent of shares are now traded through London.
In December last year, it banned non-EU citizens, including Britons, from buying its ordinary shares and eliminated the voting rights of holders.
In September, it forced the sale of 1 million shares purchased since the breakup out of compliance with its ownership rules.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS