Ryanair maintained an identical load factor in December against December 2007 stats, an impressive achievement considering the downturn. The airline filled 79 percent of its seats in December. The number of passengers flown increased 11 percent against December 2007.
Last year at this time, Ryanair was reporting December 2007's 18 percent increase in passengers and a two percent drop in load factor against December 2006 stats.
They may only tell part of the story, but these stats suggest that Ryanair is weathering the storm.
Most airlines when they buy planes from Boeing / Airbus, have a clause in the contract allowing them to defer delivery (and payment !). Of course, this clause has a value to an airline, and Ryanair chose to delete the clause in exchange for cheaper airframes from Boeing. The problem is that Ryanair now have an awful lot of metal being delivered in a terrible economy. Demand for 737s elsewhere is not great, meaning a lot of metal needs to get parked somewhere. Unless Ryanair announce a LOT of new routes for summer, expect plenty of jets based in Mojave !
Posted by: abc | January 07, 2009 at 17:42