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Ryanair had cause to celebrate when it announced on 29th June that the International Air Transport Association had confirmed that Ryanair had carried more international passengers than any other airline in 2010. Ryanair carried 71.2 million international passengers last year, 62 million more than Aer Lingus, almost 30 million more than second placed Lufthansa (44.6 million) and almost 10m more than easyjet (37 million) and British Airways (26 million) combined. Not bad for an outfit that was set up with a share capital of just £1, and a staff of 25. Who could have imaged when they launched their first route in July 1985 with daily flights on a 15-seater Bandeirante aircraft that they would become the phenomena that they now are. Ryanair's June traffic figures released on 5th July shows a continuation of an upward trend with a 9% increase recorded over June 2010 (up from 6.71 million to 7.33 million). For the year to June 75.5 million passenger were carried, a far cry from the 5,000 passengers carried in 1985. Load factor in June was unchanged from the previous year at 84%. The annual load factor was 82%.

Route developments

While new route announcements have been slim, Ryanair announced a new base, its 45th base at Manchester which will begin operations in October 2011 initially with two based aircraft and 17 routes, growing to four aircraft and 26 routes by summer 2012. Ryanair’s expects the new base will deliver up to two million passengers annually. The 26 destinations include popular locations in Italy, Germany and Spain as well as to Dublin. While Ryanair continue to have weekly spats with various airports threatening reductions or pull outs, particularly in Spain there have been no other major base or route announcements. Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's Chief Executive, said on 12th July that he wants to operate flights between Glasgow Airport and holiday destinations, as well as business routes and less typical summer destinations. Any flights from Glasgow would not affect the carrier’s base at Prestwick, which Mr O’Leary said will still be its main airport for the region. A Glasgow Airport spokesman dismissed Mr O’Leary’s comments saying that at no time whatsoever did they receive any serious note of interest from the airline to build a base at Glasgow Airport, as they have told them they were happy at Prestwick. Meanwhile, Ryanair celebrated its 30 millionth passenger on flights to and from Scotland. It presented 10 year old Zara McAnerney from Dunbartonshire and her family (Martin, Elaine and Olivia) with a free family holiday to Faro including flights, transfers and accommodation at the five star Dom Pedro Golf Resort. Since Ryanair’s first Scottish flight departed from Glasgow Prestwick to London in October 1995 Ryanair has opened two Scottish bases (Prestwick and Edinburgh) and offers flights on over 61 routes from three Scottish Airports (including Aberdeen). However, Ryanair has announced that the airline's Prestwick to Stansted route will end in three months, saying Air Passenger Duty (APD) has made budget fares unsustainable. Mr O’Leary said Ryanair is axing the route at the end of October as it was ‘nuts’ that a £12 (€13.68) APD was imposed on a £9 (€10.26) flight. He added: “For a flight of £9 (€10.26) you are looking at a duty charge of £12 (€13.68) and £24 (€27.36) for a return … it’s nuts and is just not sustainable”. Ryanair is also planning to shut down its operation at Bournemouth Airport for three months again this winter, before returning in the spring and summer next year. The airline did not run a winter schedule last year, blaming the Government's increase in APD for the decision. It will base one aircraft at Bournemouth and operate flights from the airport between February and October 2012. There will be seven spring and 12 summer routes, including Alicante, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

Managing capacity

Managing capacity is essential to the continued profitability of Ryanair as they face the challenges of rising fuel costs and potentially slower growth. Ryanair's expects its fuel bill to rise by about €350 million for the year to March 2012 and Michael O'Leary expects a sharp rise - nearly a third - in the final quarter of this year, where it is hedged at $97 a barrel which is why the airline is cutting capacity during the winter. There are also fewer opportunities for continued expansion. Ryanair has already said it would park up to 80 aircraft this winter, out of a fleet that will reach 294 Boeing 737s by next March, as it seeks to lower exposure to higher fuel costs and maximise pilot rosters. The current active fleet remains unchanged at 272 aircraft (out of a total of 308 delivered) with the last aircraft, EI-EPH (c/n 40311) being delivered on 1st April.

Chinese whispers

On 21st June, Ryanair signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Paris with COMAC to participate in discussions on the development of the COMAC C919 aircraft for Ryanair, which would be designed to carry up to 200 passengers and should be available from 2018 onwards. Ryanair will share its experience and expertise to assist COMAC to develop the new C919 commercial aircraft, with up to 200 seats, which would enable Ryanair to lower costs and continue to lower fares for its passengers across Europe. Speaking in Paris, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said; “Ryanair is pleased to sign this MOU with COMAC, and to work closely with them to develop a 200 seat C919 aircraft. We are pleased that there is now a real alternative to Boeing and Airbus, and we are seriously interested in the development of a 200 seat variant of the C919 aircraft, and we look forward to its introduction into commercial service from 2018 onwards.

Ryanair will have a fleet of over 300 Boeing aircraft by 2013, and they “remain in continuing discussions with both Boeing and now COMAC for a replacement aircraft order of at least 200 aircraft. Ryanair can become a two aircraft operator carrier, as long as the economies achieved by our current Boeing 737-800 fleet can be matched or lowered by a similar sized order from a different manufacturer. While today’s announcement won’t affect our long standing relationship with Boeing, we look forward to working closely with COMAC to promote more competition among aircraft manufacturers, which can only be good for promoting competition between airlines and lowering the cost of air travel for consumers all across Europe towards the end of the decade.”

and finally....

Ryanair, published independent statistics on 6th June which it says proves that it loses far fewer bags than any other airline. The SITA WorldTracer Statistics for 2010 showed a worldwide average of over 12 misplaced bags per 1,000 passengers. However, Ryanair misplaces less than 0.3 bags per 1,000 passengers, while flag carrier airlines like BA lose over 20 bags per 1,000 passengers and Aer Lingus loses so many bags it refuses to publish its stats. In a comment Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said that “Ryanair continues to provide Europe’s best customer service as our unbeatable combination of the lowest fares, fewest lost bags and fewest cancellations ensure that passengers keep switching to Ryanair”. He added the “statistics proves that Ryanair is the industry leader in Europe when it comes to ensuring your bags arrive with you”