Yahoo Finance Race to book flights over fears fares will rise, Ryanair says
Holidaymakers are rushing to book summer flights over fears fares will rise, according to Ryanair bosses.
Booking records are falling during January both at Ryanair and rival easyJet as the public scramble for bargains.
Neil Sorahan, Ryanair's finance chief, said that families are using money saved up during the pandemic to avoid paying hefty fares by booking later this year.
He said: “I’m not seeing the cost-of-living crisis at this point in time. There is high employment, people do have annual leave, and they are getting pay increases. And so they are very keen to travel.
“People want to get out. I think they are also aware that prices will likely rise in the summer and they just want to lock [the price of a] holiday away.”
Ryanair announced it had stayed in the black during the last three months of the calendar year. The budget carrier’s €211m (£185m) profit was equivalent to €2.3m-a-day, during what is typically a leaner period for airlines.
Mr Sorahan said the collapse of regional airline Flybe over the weekend was a result of it not having the financial resources to ride out high oil prices.
Ryanair is now targeting former Flybe staff by advertising vacant positions.
He said: “It was always going to be difficult [for Flybe]. It’s very difficult for small carriers to survive.”
Ryanair also said that it had reached an agreement with 95pc of its crew that would return pay packets to pre-pandemic levels.
Mr Sorahan said he was not worried about coming under pressure to agree to double-digit percentage pay increases – despite budget rival Jet2 last week offering staff a 15pc increase in 2023.
He said: “Our staff are very happy with the Ryanair operation". He added that the pay increases at Jet2 were a product of the travel company facing a shortage in pilots.
