Ryanair Says Fuel Hedging to Help It Ride Out Ukraine Impact

(Bloomberg) --

Ryanair Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary said fuel hedging and cost curbs will give his company an edge over rivals this summer as the Ukraine invasion adds to a slew of challenges facing airlines.

While Ryanair saw bookings drop 20% after Russia launched its attack, sales have already begun to recover and Europe's biggest discount carrier still expects a bumper Easter and summer, O'Leary told Bloomberg TV Wednesday.

Ryanair's strong hedging position will allow it to keep down prices even as competitors are forced to raise fares in response to the spiraling cost of crude, the CEO said. Its price advantage should draw customers, despite growing concerns about higher household bills from inflation -- the other major threat to a travel rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

“People are more price sensitive and we have the lowest fares,” O'Leary said. “We're in good shape to pass on savings and we're seeing it in our bookings. There's a huge number of airlines in Europe that are unhedged.”

Shares of Ryanair traded 1.6% higher as of 11:03 a.m. in Dublin, where it is based, trimming the decline this year to 7.1%. Budapest-based Wizz Air Holdings Plc, the biggest discount airline in eastern Europe, is down 27% for the year.

O'Leary said that Ryanair is 80% hedged at $63 a barrel through March next year. Among its closest rivals, Wizz in particular has generally eschewed hedging since the pandemic.

Even so, the 20% of fuel that Ryanair isn't hedged on for the coming 12 months will cost it 50 million euros ($55 million) making the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis more difficult, he said at a press briefing. The company's fuel hedge for summer 2023 stands at 9% of the anticipated requirement at $74 a barrel.

Ryanair served four airports in Ukraine prior to the war, carrying about 2 million passengers a year, and O'Leary said he'll redirect planes that flew there from Germany, Poland and Romania to Mediterranean sunspots such as Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

U.K. Top Spot

O'Leary said he sees a very strong summer in the U.K., Ryanair's top market, this summer as it operates a record schedule of 181 routes, boosting ambitions to overtake EasyJet Plc as the biggest carrier in the country by passengers.

Across Europe, airlines are likely to offer about 90% of overall pre-pandemic capacity for the coming high season, the CEO said. Bookings at Ryanair are running about 15% behind the 2019 level, though fares for April, at least, are significantly higher.

Ryanair expects to carry between 95 million and 98 million passengers in the year through March, rising to 165 million in fiscal 2023. It's full-year loss is likely to be close to the middle of a guided range of 250 million euros to 450 million euros with a few weeks still to go, he said.

O'Leary said he's hopefully that rules requiring face masks to be worn inflight will be dropped by the summer.