Ryanair’s brand overhaul begins to boost sales
RYANAIR yesterday announced that its profit for the fiscal year 2015 had soared by 66 per cent from the year before, and said it took more from ticket sales than the year before too.
The Irish budget airline, which is celebrating its 30th birthday this year, announced it made €867m (£615m) in profit for the year ending 31 March. Its revenue for the same period increased by 12 per cent from March 2014 to €5.65bn .
The growing profits come as Ryanair has given itself something of a makeover, and is trying to appear a more friendly company. Executives hailed the customer service improvement programme which is now in its second year.
Ryanair enjoyed greater passenger capacity in their aircraft – a critical factor for an airline reliant on flying full planes to be profitable. Its load factor increased from 83 per cent in 2014, to 88 per cent in 2015. The firm is projecting the figure, which can be translated to mean fuller planes, can hit 90 per cent by March 2016.
Chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said Ryanair had been impacted by April’s French air traffic control strike, to the tune of €5m.
Rival budget carrier Easyjet remains a clear target for Ryanair. Its executives cited figures that showed Ryanair is in second place in terms of UK market share currently, but they are confident growth means it can overtake Easyjet in the UK. “It’s just something that will happen by default,” commented Sorahan.
Ryanair shares ended the day up 5.13 per cent.