Ryanair, on 14 Sep, held its 2016 AGM in Dublin during which shareholders approved all resolutions by substantial majorities (see attached). The airline also briefed shareholders on the continuing success of its “Always Getting Better” (AGB) customer experience improvement programme, which has already enabled Ryanair to raise its full year traffic forecast to 117m customers, with a full year net profit guidance range of €1,375m to €1,425m.
Amongst the highlights of the last year were:
· Traffic grew by 18% to 106.4m customers as load factors rose from 88% to 93%
· 7 new bases & more than 100 new routes launched
· More primary airports & bases (Hamburg, Luxembourg, Milan Malpensa, Nuremberg)
· First airline to carry over 100m international customers in a calendar year
· First airline to carry over 11m international customers in a calendar month (July)
· Five year pay & conditions deals agreed with all 84 pilot and cabin crew bases
· Over 2,000 new jobs created (bringing total headcount to 11,500)
· Year 3 of AGB launched
· Aer Lingus proceeds (€400m) returned to shareholders
· €800m share buy-back programme completed
· Increased profit after tax by 43% to €1,242m (before an exceptional gain of €317.5m from the sale of 29.8% shareholding in Aer Lingus)
Ryanair customers can look forward to further improvements in the coming year including even lower fares, the early launch of the summer 2017 schedule, digital enhancements such as travel extras in the app, ‘one-flick’ payments and automatic check-in, a “My Ryanair Club” with member benefits, and the launch of the Ryanair Rooms accommodation platform, as AGB continues to deliver for Ryanair’s customers, people and shareholders.
Ryanair Chairman, David Bonderman said:
“Our record traffic and load factor growth demonstrates the continued success of Ryanair’s low fares and our “Always Getting Better” (AGB) customer experience programme. As our recent full year guidance confirmed, Ryanair expects average fares to fall by between 10% to 12% in the 6 months to March 2017 (this winter), so there’s never been a better time to book a low fare flight on Ryanair, with even more value for our rapidly growing customer base.”
