Ryanair suffers from rising oil and pilot salaries

Dublin (awp / afp) – The low-cost airline Ryanair on Monday posted a net profit down 22% in the first quarter, due to more expensive fuel and salary increases granted to its pilots.

Net profit amounted to 309.2 million euros (359.5 million Swiss francs) between April and June 2018, the period which corresponds to the first quarter of its out-of-date financial year, announced in a statement on Irish group

Ryanair has also maintained its forecast of an annual profit falling in a range between 1.25 to 1.35 billion euros, despite the strikes it faces and while the Brexit will intervene at end of year, end of March 2019.

The group had anticipated an increase in its kerosene bill due to a rebound in oil prices. This cost has cost 118 million euros in the quarter, a charge that is expected to reach 430 million euros over the year.

The company even believes that the soaring fuel prices could aggravate the financial difficulties of some of its competitors and feed the mergers and acquisitions, which Ryanair says it can take advantage of.

More money for the staff

At the same time, the company has spent more money for its staff, with wage increases for its pilots to alleviate the social tensions that had erupted on the big day at the end of summer 2017. Planning problems had then led to a serious social crisis and cancellations for a total of 20,000 flights.

Ryanair also welcomes a 7% increase in the number of pbadengers transported to 37.6 million over the quarter, despite 2,500 cancellations of flights related to control strikes In contrast, this increase in traffic was made at the cost of lower prices, still under pressure because of strong competition on the short-haul in Europe, in particular in Germany.

The company expects the competition to remain strong in the second quarter due to factors such as the football World Cup, the heat wave in Northern Europe and strikes. [19659002] Ryanair is facing a social movement of its pilots in Ireland, which are due to conduct a third day of strike on Tuesday, before a separate strike call by Ryanair's cabin crew in Spain, Portugal and Belgium on Wednesday and Thursday. 19659002] Faced with a growing social malaise, the company decided at the end of 2017 to recognize for the first time in its history pilot unions and cabin crew. It has signed several recognition agreements in recent months but negotiations are still difficult in some countries.

Ryanair expects further strikes this summer, since the company says "not being ready to respond to requests which are not reasonable. "

afp / al