Holidaymakers can expect higher air fares this summer due to capacity constraints in the airline industry, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary told a group of English journalists who were hosted by Ryanair on Friday February 23rd.
O’Leary predicts that European airlines will struggle to meet travel demand during the peak season due to limited aircraft availability, resulting in up to a 10pc increase in Ryanair ticket prices compared to the previous year.
Delays in Boeing’s new aircraft deliveries will impact Ryanair’s growth in passenger numbers, potentially lowering their forecasted 205m passengers for the year to possibly below 200m.
O’Leary attributed the constrained growth to the potential higher fare environment across Europe in summer 2024, with average air fares already rising by 17pc in summer 2023.
Ryanair’s growth this year is expected to be limited, leading to a forecasted fare increase of 5-10pc, which O’Leary considers reasonable compared to the double-digit increase in the previous year.
Delays in Boeing aircraft delivery, quality concerns, and FAA scrutiny are affecting the growth plans of Ryanair, with an expected shortfall in the number of new planes by the end of March.
Mr O’Leary aid “airlines such as Wizz Air, Lufthansa and Air France “will be grounding upwards of 20pc of their A320 fleets because of this. If we could get all 57 aircraft deliveries from Boeing in advance before the end of June we would make out like bandits all summer long because we have airports at the moment beating the door down to us.”
