Ryanair remains positive despite Omicron concerns
Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, said this morning the airline remains positive about summer demand, bypassing concerns related to the new Covid variant, Omicron, and its impact on Christmas demand.
Speaking at London’s World Aviation Festival, Wilson said that the carrier’s focus remained on next summer.
“We were hoping that the demand curve would really get going in January once we got through Christmas but then that had been sort of T-boned by the travel restrictions but we’re still optimistic about next summer, we can see it in terms of pent-up demand,” he said. “We need more testing but not travel restrictions.”
The company, which is back to pre-covid demand levels, released today its November traffic stats and registered an 86 per cent increase, going up to 10.2 million passengers compared with 2 million registered in November 2020.
“If you look at November, we have had a load factor of 86 per cent [but] it’s going to be challenging for Christmas because it’s not necessarily going to be price led because people will feel the pressure not to travel for their own personal reasons,” Wilson said.
The carrier reported on Tuesday some softening of trading caused by the Omicron variant, stating it remained well placed to handle uncertainty through the financial year’s final part, Reuters wrote.
One of Ryanair’s main hubs in the UK, London Luton, announced today that its plans to expand capacity by 1 million passengers were approved, CityAM reported. The airport will see three more flights per day as a result of the move.