LONDON – Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has reported a strong first-quarter profit of €170 million for the first quarter of this year.

This is a significant improvement from the €273 million loss it recorded in Q1 of 2021. The €170m figure is still less than the pre-covid figure of €243 million.

Below, you can see a table of the carrier’s performance:

Commenting on the environment of the industry was Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary:

“Ryanair puts sustainability at the heart of our growth.  This summer, we are operating 73 new B737 “Gamechanger” aircraft, delivering 4% more seats yet burning 16% less fuel and cutting noise emissions by up to 40%.”

“Passengers flying across Europe who switch to Ryanair (from high-fare legacy airlines) can reduce their environmental footprint by up to 50% per flight, proving that with Ryanair, growth can be coupled with more sustainability, leading to a better future for all our guests and their families. 

“We continue to work hard to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).  We are investing in our partnership with Trinity College Dublin’s Sustainable Aviation Research Centre, and in April, we announced a partnership with Neste to power up to one-third of all our flights from Schiphol Airport (AMS) with a 40% SAF blend.”

“Ryanair hopes to power 12.5% of our flights using SAF and cut our CO₂ per pax/km by 10% to 60 grams by 2030.”

“We are working with A4E, and the EU, to accelerate the reform of the Single European Sky to improve ATC efficiency and reduce flight delays, which will substantially reduce fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions, and flight delays.    

In April, Sustainalytics ranked Ryanair the No.1 airline in Europe (No.2 globally) for ESG performance.”

“Building on this achievement, in June, we submitted Ryanair’s commitment letter to SBTi and will work with them over the next 2 years to verify our ambitious targets. “

“[Yesterday], we launched our updated (2022) “Aviation with Purpose” sustainability report highlighting ambitious environmental and social targets over the coming years and mapping out Ryanair’s path to net carbon zero by 2050.”

6,000 New Jobs Across Europe…

O’Leary also went into the huge jobs creation Ryanair will be participating in over the next four years:

“Our growth plans to 2026 will see Ryanair create over 6,000 well-paid jobs for highly skilled aviation professionals across Europe.  Over the next 3 years, we plan to expand our state-of-the-art training centers, investing over €100m in 2 more, high skills, training facilities (one on the Iberian Peninsula, and one in CEE).”

“This summer, we take delivery of the first of 8 new CAE full flight simulators (value over $80m).  We continue to invest heavily in our engineering and maintenance teams and recently announced a new maintenance hangar facility in Malta, in addition to newly opened hangars in Kaunas (Lithuania) and Shannon (Ireland).”

“These in-house facilities enable us to create cadet and apprenticeship opportunities for school leavers, bringing through the next generation of highly skilled aviators and aircraft maintenance professionals.”

Overall…

Ryanair is definitely in the right direction, especially with the profit levels on a recovering track and are under €100 million away from pre-COVID levels.

As the Summer 2022 schedule continues to progress, this is where the Irish low-cost carrier will make the most revenue, which by next year should return the carrier to pre-pandemic levels of profitability.

The carrier seems confident enough to get itself through the ongoing travel chaos that is being seen across Europe, which is a major concern for Ryanair and others in the industry.