Ryanair's profit for H1 FY20 remains unchanged despite soaring fuel cost

Source: Xinhua | 2019-11-05

Ryanair's post-tax profit for the first half of the fiscal year 2020 (H1 FY20) remained unchanged at 1.15 billion euros (about 1.28 billion U.S. dollars) compared with the same period last year, announced the Ireland-headquartered airline on Monday.
During the first six months of the current fiscal year which started on April 1, 2019, the fuel cost of the airline soared by 22 percent to 1.59 billion euros due to higher oil prices and growing traffic numbers, said the company in a statement.
Ryanair handled a total of 85.7 million passengers in H1 FY20, which represented an 11-percent increase over a year ago, it said, adding that the company's costs other than fuel also increased by 2 percent in the period due to higher staff costs including increased pilot pay, higher maintenance costs and increased losses of Lauda, an Austria-based budget airline acquired by Ryanair in 2018.
Total revenue of the company increased by 11 percent to 5.39 billion euros thanks to a 28-percent rise in its ancillary revenue which amounted to 1.65 billion euros in the period, according to the statement.
The airline predicted its profit after tax for the full year will range between 800 million euros to 900 million euros against a previous guidance ranging from 750 million euros to 950 million euros.
Ryanair's business in the second half of the fiscal year is normally worse than that of the first one as less people are expected to travel during the winter season.
Ryanair is the largest budget airline in Europe. According to the data released by the company in the statement, Ryanair now boasts a fleet of over 475 aircraft which offer more than 2,400 daily flights connecting over 200 destinations in 40 countries and regions across Europe and part of Africa. (one euro = 1.116 U.S. dollars)