Ryanair has today posted a €355m loss for the pandemic-hit 12 months to the end of March. The airline said it was impossible to accurately forecast anything beyond hoping for a return to "reasonable profitability" this year.
The airline has been operating more flights than any other European airline according to air traffic regulator Eurocontrol. It said it planned to grow its traffic to 165 million passengers this year, up from 97 million a year ago and a pre-Covid record of 149 million.
Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary said it was "impractical, if not impossible" to provide a sensible or accurate profit guidance range at this time given the potential continued risk the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 poses to booking. "This recovery remains fragile," Michael O'Leary said in a statement.
He added that while bookings have improved in recent weeks, first-quarter pricing continued to need stimulation. Ryanair is cautiously optimistic that peak summer fares would be somewhat ahead of pre-pandemic levels due to pent-up demand.