Ryanair's racist incident comes as profits decline – Quartz

Ryanair had a few difficult days. This morning, the low-cost carrier experienced a 7% drop in profits in the first half of the year, due to lower fuel prices, excess capacity and a series of strikes. . This is the beginning of the financial year of the weakest airline since 2015.

The airline has been hit by strikes in recent months – especially during the crucial period of its summer travel – including European air traffic control and its own crew. Last December, the airline agreed to recognize the unions and hoped to reach agreements with all remaining major unions by the end of the year. Until this happens, new actions of the type that resulted in the cancellation of 250 flights at the end of September, affecting 40,000 passengers, can not be ruled out.

And now it's not just his crew that's revolting. Calls for a boycott of Europe's largest low-cost European airline are circulating on social media thanks to the airline's mishandling of a racist passenger on a Barcelona-London flight on Friday (October 19th). A white man was filmed launching racist violence on an old black woman sitting next to him. Rather than disembark the passenger or ask him to move, the woman would have had another seat. The cabin crew seemed to appease the man rather than say that what he was doing was unacceptable.

The airline tweeted a statement yesterday saying that they had reported the incident to the police in Essex, but that they had not reacted further.

That said, Ryanair's share price is rising today, with analysts expecting it to be even worse. And the airline has announced a 6% growth in passenger numbers in September, a rate that should continue for the rest of the year. CEO Michael O'Leary is not necessarily optimistic for the months to come, but he thinks his rivals are even worse off.

The basic budget airline should continue to reduce its rates in the coming quarters, checking whether the scandal, whether it is canceled flights or blatant racism on board, will have a significant impact on the direction taken by the company. If research on consumer behavior is an indication, a cheap ticket can cover a lot of sins. This has allowed Ryanair to become one of the largest airlines in the world, while few people claim to like it.