A roundup of post-pandemic European airline results
The year to March 2023 is the first relatively "clean" twelve month period since the pandemic. Now that we have the numbers from all the big players, what do they tell us about who has emerged as the biggest, and who is doing the best?
March quarter results from Ryanair and EasyJet
Results from Ryanair today and EasyJet last week rounded out the figures for Europe's biggest airline companies. As the first clear twelve month period "post pandemic", what did they reveal about the state of play in Europe's airline industry?
Ryanair’s aircraft cost advantage
How much does Ryanair pay for its aircraft? And can it maintain the cost advantage its past deals have given it going forward?
How comparable are aircraft ownership and maintenance costs across airlines?
We often see big differences in aircraft ownership and maintenance costs between airlines. How much of this is driven by different accounting policies and by choices about how to finance the aircraft?
Assessing Q3 performance from the European LCCs
Ryanair reported bumper profits of €1.4 billion for its September quarter yesterday. How well did its results stack up against the other European low-cost airlines?
Normalising Q2 results for fuel and emissions hedging
Fuel hedging policies had a dramatic impact on Q2 airline results in Europe. Which airlines delivered the best results? And how much of that was down to hedging policies?
Massive losses at Wizz
All three of the big European low-cost airlines reported their June quarter results this week. Despite the company's attempts to present a positive picture, the figures from Wizz were truly awful.
The impact of higher fuel and emissions costs on air fares and demand
Will higher fuel and emissions costs be passed on to customers in higher fares? If so, what will be the consequences for demand, capacity and market share?
Lies, damn lies and statistics
Ryanair and Wizz claim to have “industry leading” seat factors. Is that really the case, or is it just down to differences in the way they report the figures?
A performance comparison of the European LCCs
Back in 2020, I analysed the relative performance of the three big European low-cost carriers in the final 12 months before the pandemic hit. With all three having now reported figures up to March 2022, I revisited my analysis to see what had changed.
European airline winners and losers from the pandemic
As the fog starts to clear on the airline recovery, which airlines are emerging from the pandemic as winners and how well did market analysts do early on in predicting who that would be?
Big losses announced at easyJet
Despite clocking up another £0.5 billion of losses over the last six months, things are finally starting to look up for easyJet on the demand side, enabling it to begin to close the gap in performance that opened up against its rivals during the pandemic.
New trading guidance from Ryanair
Ryanair issued new guidance for its full year ending March 2022 today. The headline loss of between €350m and €400m still makes grim reading, but figures for March suggest that things may finally be looking up.
War in Europe
Shocking news from Ukraine today. Understandably, airline share prices fell heavily. What are the practical implications for airline management teams?
A not quite end of year review
As we approach the end of what has been another eventful year for the aviation industry, I reflect on how things have turned out compared to my expectations at the end of 2020.
Divergent performance from Europe’s low cost carriers
As we enter the recovery phase for Europe’s aviation industry, how well are the big low-cost airlines doing and how well placed are they for the future?
Low-cost airline hibernation skills
The last few months have been a truly terrible period for airlines in Europe. Which of the three big low-cost airlines did the best job of keeping losses to a minimum?
Airline pricing strategies for the summer restart
What do the current prices on offer for August tell us about UK airline strategies for the hoped for summer restart in travel?
Record losses for 2020 at IAG
IAG reported record losses for its 2020 financial year. How did its figures stack up against other European airlines and what are the prospects for 2021?
Digging around in Ryanair’s Q3 results
This week Ryanair reported record pre-tax losses of €345m for the December 2020 quarter. Guidance for the March 2021 quarter suggests that will be even worse. Figures buried deep within the balance sheet also revealed some very interesting insights about their recent financial dealings with Boeing.