The Irish low-cost carrier released a tome of a statement on their Web site today. There's bravado within, to be sure, but it's a pretty cautious document on balance. Among the more interesting details: more passengers, a modest increase in revenue, vastly lower profits, and a dramatic increase in ancillary revenue.
I'll flesh these out a bit. Passenger numbers in the year to March 31, 2009: 58.5 million, up 15 percent over 2007-08's 50.9 million. Revenue is up 8 percent to €2,942 billion over 2007-08's €2,714 billion. The former continues to impress. Obviously, ongoing sales and generally low pricing are continuing to pull passengers in.
Ryanair has continued to turn a profit, though vastly less of one in 2008-09 than in 2007-08: €105 million against €480.9 million, a drop of 78 percent.
Most interesting are the airline's ancillary revenue figures, which are up 23 percent in 2008-09 over 2007-08, to a stunning €598 million. Stack that number against Ryanair's relatively small revenue growth (of €228 million). Ancillary revenue is entirely responsible for keeping Ryanair in the black. Most observers of the airline already may have already known or suspected this, but these figures certainly hit this reality home.
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