For Ryanair it would be the super meltdown. The Spanish union USO is planning a months-long strike for cabin crew, which could start as early as the summer. In Spain of all places - the country where the second most Ryanair destinations are.
Ryanair's Spanish cabin crew union is calling on its members to go on permanent strikes. Between August 8 and January 7, work should be stopped every week from Monday to Thursday, said a spokesman for the USO union. This is intended to emphasize the demands for higher wages and better working conditions. Already in July, the Spanish cabin crew had stopped work for several days and caused disruptions at many Spanish airports.
The Irish low-cost airline was initially unavailable for comment on the plans. The strike would hit the airline hard. Spain is one of the countries with the most Ryanair destinations, including the major cities of Madrid and Barcelona, as well as the holiday islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Fuerteventura.
Actually, Ryanair wants to reach its pre-Corona profit level again this year or next. However, one cannot make a forecast for the current financial year, said Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary. He warned that a new wave of the pandemic in the fall could throw the company off its recovery path. Uncertainties in fuel prices and geopolitical risks also made it difficult to assess the situation. "There is clearly a lot of demand, but it is very fragile and can be damaged in the very short term if there are unfavorable developments in Corona or in Ukraine."
At EUR 170 million, profit after tax for the first quarter ended in June was still well below the profit of EUR 243 million in the first quarter of 2019, but exceeded analyst forecasts of EUR 157 million. Ryanair sees no impact of high inflation and the economic slowdown on bookings. CFO Neil Sorahan said the flight discounter could even gain market share if passengers migrated away from its more expensive competitors.
Even during the recovery so far, Ryanair has overtaken Lufthansa and established itself as Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers. Ryanair aims to carry 15 percent more passengers this summer than in 2019. Another 10 percent growth is expected by next summer. In July, only four percent of the seats remained empty, and it should remain so in August. Even if the airline has to scale back its plans due to a corona wave in autumn, it wants to increase capacity by nine to ten percent in summer 2023, even with high fuel prices.
The only threat to capacity planning in the summer of 2023 is possible delivery delays from Boeing. Ryanair and the US aircraft manufacturer are in regular contact about a major order for 737 MAX 10 aircraft, but cannot agree on the price.
