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The energy price shock and recession will delay a post-Covid recovery this winter and through next year, Ryanair’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Leary, has warned. But in spite of this Ryanair will “steam ahead in what is a favourable market for us”, he insisted.
Speaking as Ryanair unveiled its largest-ever winter schedule from the UK last week, O’Leary warned that consumer price inflation “will be as nothing to the energy price shock this winter.
“You would be crazy not to be worried about a looming recession and the energy crisis. But people will not stop flying.
“Many people have to fly for work and for weddings or funerals, and in a recession people get much more price sensitive”, he said. Some people may travel less, but we’ll see more people trading down to the lowest-fare operator which is us. “The question is not can people afford to fly but can people afford to fly with British Airways or Lufthansa?”, O’Leary said.
“The overall market will struggle. The market in 2023 and 2024 will not return to pre-Covid levels.
“A recession will significantly dampen the overall traffic recovery post-Covid. A lot of capacity is not coming back”.
But he argued: “Every time there is a recession we grow faster. This will be our fourth or fifth. We’ll grow stronger as we have in every other recession.
“We’ll grow as we’re the lowest-cost airline and have game-changer, fuel efficient Boeing 737 Max aircraft. We’re very well hedged on our fuel at low prices [and] we’ll be much more efficient.
“It’s full steam ahead in what is a favourable market for us”.
Ryanair has launched its biggest ever UK winter schedule, adding 21 new routes to its network of 21 British airports.
For winter 2022-23, the budget carrier will offer 440 services, including new winter-sun and city break destinations such as Asturias, Catania, Klagenfurt, Leipzig and Lapland, which are added to its network from Stansted.
Other new routes include:
Liverpool – Rome;
Newcastle – Barcelona and Cork;
Bournemouth – Lanzarote and Venice;
Edinburgh – Grenoble and Verona;
Manchester – Klagenfurt, Podgorica and Turin;
and six from Birmingham – Billund, Grenoble, Santander, Stockholm, Toulouse and Venice.
