Category Archives: Malta Air

Photo: Malta Air Boeing 737-8 (200) 9H-VUF (msn 65082) DUB (Michael Kelly). Image: 954577.

The first Ryanair Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 (200) finally departs from Seattle

Ryanair has taken delivery of its first (delayed) Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 (200). The 197-seat high-density aircraft (the pictured EI-HEN, top) departed from Boeing Field this morning shortly after 1 am local time. It is expected to arrive later today in Dublin.

Ryanair on June 16 issued this statement:

Ryanair on June 16 took delivery of its first Boeing 737-8200 “Gamechanger” aircraft in Seattle, Washington. The aircraft flew overnight from Seattle and will land in Dublin Airport later this afternoon. This is the first delivery of Ryanair’s 210 firm order of these revolutionary “Gamechanger” aircraft, which is an investment in new technology, valued at over $22 billion. These new aircraft will carry 4% more passengers but reduce fuel consumption by 16% per seat, lower noise emissions by 40% and lower CO2 emissions by a similar amount.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“We are delighted to take delivery of our first new technology Gamechanger aircraft. These new Boeing 737 aircraft will help Ryanair lower costs, cut fuel consumption and lower noise and CO2 emissions as we invest heavily in new technology to deepen our environmental commitment as Europe’s greenest, cleanest major airline. Each 737 aircraft offers 197 seats (compared to our 189-seat current 737 fleet). However, our customers will enjoy more leg room, new Boeing “Sky Interiors” and lower fares, while reducing their environmental footprint by switching to these new aircraft.

Due to regrettable delivery delays, we expect to take delivery of just 12 of these aircraft during Summer 2021, with 6 delivering in Ryanair colors and 6 in Malta Air colors.

Ryanair expects to take delivery of an additional 50 of these 737 “Gamechanger” aircraft before Summer 2022, which will enable the Ryanair Group to rebound strongly, offering new routes, lower fares, and rapid traffic recovery to many partner airports across Europe as the tourism industry rebuilds from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020/2021”.

Top Copyright Photo: Ryanair Boeing 737-8 MAX 8 (200) EI-HEN (msn 62301) PAE (Nick Dean). Image: 953050.

Ryanair aircraft slide show:

Malta Air launches partnership with local charity Puttinu Cares

Malta Air has launched its local charity partnership with Puttinu Cares, supporting Maltese families of children requiring cancer treatment abroad by providing accommodation for family members travelling with the children.

Puttinu Cares – Chosen Maltese Charity Partner – aim is to support family members of children who need to go abroad to pursue any kind of further treatment. Puttinu Cares is there for all accommodation requirements for the accompanying family, facilitating a home away from home. This alleviates a huge burden, since when a child gets sick parents don’t have to shoulder the expense of accommodation to be able to stay with their child in hospital and care for them in between stays.

Malta Air CEO Diarmuid O’Conghaile said:

“We are proud to announce our partnership with such an important local charity, Puttinu Cares, and we are pleased to be associated with the important work they do. Malta Air is up and running now for over a year and we have become a member of the community here in Malta. Our partnership with this local charity is part of that.

Throughout the networks of Malta Air and the Ryanair group, our customers donate to charity through purchasing our in-flight scratch cards, and Puttinu Cares is one example of a charity that benefits from these donations. We look forward to continuing to work with Puttinu Cares in the coming years.”

Dr Andrew Decelis of Puttinu Cares said:

“Thank you for your contribution which will help us continue to support an increasing number of families and children who are passing through very difficult times. We rely heavily on donations such as these in order to live up to our mission”.

Charles Pace, Director General of TM CAD, said:

‘I am happy to have made the introduction between Malta Air and Puttinu Cares, and that the local community will benefit from the charitable donation. I thank Malta Air management for its support and look forward to the continuation of this initiative.’

Ryanair full year profits up 13% to €1 billion for the full fiscal year, will Lauda survive?

Ryanair Holdings plc today (May 18) reported a full year profit of €1,002m (exclusive hedge ineffectiveness), compared to €885m last year. Highlights include:

Traffic grew 4% to 149m guests.
Revenue per guest rose 6% to €57 (2% higher fares & ancillary rev. up 16%).
Over 90% of flights arrived on-time (excl. ATC delays).
EU’s greenest, cleanest airline (66g CO₂ pax/km).
5 new bases & 390 new routes.
Malta Air became 4^th Group airline.
New digital platform launched with improved, personalised, guest offers.
Strong balance sheet & liquidity.

FY20 (IFRS) – Group*	31 Mar. 2019	31 Mar. 2020	Change
Guests	143.1m	148.6m	+4%
Load Factor	96%	95%	-1pt
Revenue	€7.69bn	€8.49bn	+10%
PAT	€885m	€1,002m	+13%
Gross cash	€3,195m	€3,808m	+19%

*excl. €353m except. hedge ineffectiveness charge

COVID-19 UPDATE:

Unlawful State Aid – to date

Lufthansa Group	€12.4bn plus
AF-KLM Group	€10.1bn plus
Alitalia	€ 3.5bn plus
TUI Group	€ 1.8bn plus
SAS	€ 0.8bn plus
Finnair	€ 0.7bn plus
Norwegian	€ 0.3bn plus

Most of Ryanair’s fleet was grounded from mid-March by EU Government flight bans and restrictions. These groundings reduced our March and full year traffic by over 5m guests and cut FY20 profits by over €40m. As updated on 1 May, Ryanair expects to operate less than 1% of its scheduled flying programme in Q1 (Apr. to June). Some return to flight services is expected in Q2 (July-Sept.) and Ryanair expects to carry no more than 50% of its original Q2 traffic target of 44.6m, as bookings will be impacted by public health restrictions (temperature checks and face coverings for passengers and staff) and quarantine requirements. When Group airlines return to scheduled flying from July, the competitive landscape in Europe will be distorted by unprecedented quantums of State Aid (in breach of EU rules) under which over €30bn has been gifted to the Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, SAS and Norwegian among others. We therefore expect that traffic on reduced flight schedules will be subject to significant price discounting, and below cost selling, from these flag carriers with huge State Aid war chests.

BUSINESS REVIEW (FY20):

Revenues

Sales grew 10% to €8.5bn. Scheduled Revenue, driven by 4% traffic growth to 149m and 2% higher fares, increased by 6% to €5.6bn. Covid-19 flight restrictions and aircraft groundings in the 2^nd half of March reduced traffic by over 5m in Q4. Ancillary Revenue rose by 20% to €2.9bn as more guests choose Priority Boarding and Preferred Seat services. In Oct., Ryanair Labs launched a new digital platform with improved, personalised, guest offers. This bedded down well in Q4, prior to Covid-19 groundings, with Labs focusing on improved penetration across core ancillary products.

Costs

Our fuel bill rose 14% (+€335m) to €2.8bn due to higher prices and 4% traffic growth. Ex-fuel unit costs were adversely impacted by a 48% drop in March traffic (-5.2m guests) due to Covid-19 groundings and, as a result, rose by 4% (ahead of the +2% guided). Higher staff costs (increased pilot pay & higher crew ratios as pilot resignations slowed to zero) and maintenance costs (older aircraft longer in the fleet due to the Boeing MAX delivery delays) were offset by falling EU261 costs (due to better on-time-performance) and lower route charges. The Group has recorded an exceptional €353m (net of tax) hedge ineffectiveness charge on FY21 fuel hedges (due to Covid-19 groundings), offset by favourable €/$ currency hedges for fuel & delayed capex.

Group Airlines

During FY20, the Ryanair Group continued to evolve. Buzz increased its fleet to 45 Boeing 737-800s and expanded outside Poland with new bases in Prague and Budapest.

Lauda underperformed in FY20 with fares lower than expected, due to intense price competition from Lufthansa subsidiaries in its core Austrian and German markets. FY20 traffic, however, grew to 6.4m at high load factors. In April, David O’Brien (former Ryanair CCO) joined the Lauda management team as Joint CEO.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Lauda fleet has been grounded since March 17. With costs running ahead of other Group airlines and Lauda’s main competitor, Austrian Airlines, expected to receive an €800m State Aid bailout, Lauda has had to completely rethink its strategy and significantly lower its growth plans. Its management team are implementing restructuring and cost cutting plans and are currently in discussions with its people and its unions in relation to staff savings to secure the future of its Vienna A320 base. Failure to agree meaningful cost reductions on May 20 will result in the Vienna A320 base being closed on May 30 with over 300 job losses. Lauda has already abandoned plans to operate a base in Zadar for the Ryanair Group.

Malta Air, which became the 4^th Group airline last summer, grew strongly in FY20. With a fleet of almost 120 aircraft, it has taken over the Group’s French, German, Italian and Maltese bases. Like Buzz, Lauda and Ryanair DAC, it is also reviewing all areas of its cost base so that it remains competitive in its core markets where it will compete against government bailed out legacy carriers.

Ryanair DAC performed well in FY20 and opened new markets in Armenia, Georgia and Lebanon. Its fleet, however, has dropped to 275 Boeing 737-800s as both Buzz and Malta Air took over flight operations for the Group. Punctuality improved to over 90% (excl. ATC delays) thanks to Ryanair’s investment in new handling arrangements in Stansted, Poland and Spain. In Sept., Eddie Wilson was appointed as Ryanair DAC’s CEO.

Boeing MAX update

It is over a year since the Group was due to take delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX 200 aircraft. Boeing are currently guiding a late summer return to service in the US for the Boeing 737 MAX. We believe it will be at least October before we receive our first MAX 200 aircraft. We remain fans of, and committed to, these “gamechanger” aircraft with 4% more seats & 16% lower fuel burn, which will transform Ryanair’s cost base for the next decade. We are currently reviewing short-term growth plans and are in active negotiations with both Boeing and Lauda’s A320 lessors to reduce planned deliveries over the next 24 months to reflect slower traffic growth post Covid-19 in 2020 & 2021.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Ryanair’s balance sheet is one of the strongest in the industry with a current cash balance of €4.1bn (Ryanair recently raised £600m under the UK’s CCFF) and 330 unencumbered Boeing 737s (77% of owned fleet). Since mid-March, the Group has implemented a series of measures to preserve cash, cut costs, cancel share buybacks and defer operating and non-essential capex spending. As a result, average weekly cash burn has dropped from approx. €200m in March to just over €60m in May. This liquidity will enable the Group to weather Covid-19 and emerge stronger when the crisis passes. Our focus will remain on cash preservation/generation and the repayment of maturing debt over the next 24 months.

ESG UPDATE:

Europe’s Greenest, Cleanest Airline

The future of our planet is of vital importance to our customers and all our people. Ryanair has the lowest carbon emissions of any major EU airline at just 66 grams of CO₂ per passenger km. Passengers switching to Ryanair can halve their CO₂ emissions compared to other major EU airlines. Ryanair operates the youngest fleet, with the highest load factors, and newer more fuel-efficient engines. During FY20, Ryanair launched a new Environmental Policy and appointed a director of sustainability to oversee its implementation.

Senior Board Changes

On June 1 Stan McCarty will succeed David Bonderman as Chairman of the Board and Louise Phelan will replace Kyran McLaughlin as Senior Independent Director. Both David and Kyran will step down from the Board on May 31 and we thank them both for their long service and wise counsel. Ryanair’s new Chairman plans to refresh various Board Committees before the Sept. AGM.

OUTLOOK:

FY21 will be difficult for the Ryanair Group as its airlines work hard to return to scheduled flying following the Covid-19 crisis. Unlike many flag carrier competitors, Ryanair will not request or receive State Aid. Consultations about base closures, pay cuts of up to 20%, unpaid leave and up to 3,000 job cuts (mainly pilots and cabin crew) are under way with our people and our unions. Our Commercial team are also in active discussions with our airport partners regarding S.20, and beyond, capacity allocations. Given the uncertainty over the impact and duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with no visibility on what customer behaviour and demand will be following a return to service, Ryanair cannot provide FY21 PAT guidance at this time. The Group expects to record a loss of over €200m in Q1, with a smaller loss expected in Q2 (peak summer) due to a substantial decline in traffic and pricing from Covid-19 groundings. The Group currently expects to carry less than 80m passengers in FY21 (almost 50% below its original 154m target). Ryanair’s return to scheduled flying will be rendered significantly more difficult by competing with flag carrier airlines who will be financing below cost selling with the benefit of over €30bn in unlawful State Aid, in breach of both EU State Aid and competition rules.

As we look beyond the next year, there will be significant opportunities for Ryanair’s low cost, growth model as competitors shrink, fail or are acquired by government bailed out carriers.

Ryanair aircraft photo gallery:

Ryanair reports 3Q results, Lauda underperforms, Buzz to grow to 50 aircraft, Malta Air to grow to 120 aircraft

Ryanair issued this financial report:

Ryanair Holdings plc reported a fiscal third quarter profit of €88m, compared to a €66m loss in the same quarter last year. Highlights include:

Traffic grew 6% to 36m guests.
Revenue per guest rose 13% (9% higher fares; ancillary rev. up 21%).
Over 90% of flights arrived on-time (excl. ATC delays).
111 new routes announced for S.20.
Director of Sustainability appointed to drive our Environmental Policy.
Over €440m returned to shareholders under €700m buyback programme.

Q3 (IFRS) – Group	31 Dec. 2018	31 Dec. 2019	Change
Guests	33.8m	35.9m	+6%
Load Factor	95%	96%	+1pt
Revenue	€1.58bn	€1.91bn	+21%
(Net loss)/PAT	(€66m)	€88m	–
Basic EPS	(€0.06)	+€0.08	–

EUROPE’S GREENEST, CLEANEST AIRLINE:

The future of our planet is of vital importance to our customers and all our people. Ryanair has the lowest carbon emissions of any major EU airline at just 66 grams of CO₂ per passenger km. Passengers switching to Ryanair can halve their CO₂ emissions compared to other major EU airlines. In Dec. 2019, Ryanair appointed a Director of Sustainability to deliver the Group’s ambitious sustainability targets.

Ryanair operates the youngest fleet, with the highest load factors, and newer more fuel-efficient engines. Our Environmental Policy commits us to:

Be plastic free in 5 years;
Cut noise emissions by up to 40% per seat;
Cut CO₂ emissions by 10% by 2030 (up to 50% lower than other major EU airlines);
Encourage guests to support our voluntary carbon offset programme;
Work with environmental partners to improve our environment in Europe.

While aviation generates just 2% of Europe’s CO₂, our industry must work harder to further cut these low emissions. EU airlines already pay excessive environmental taxes – Ryanair will pay over €630m in such taxes this year.

BUSINESS REVIEW:

Revenues

Sales grew 21% to €1.91bn. Better than expected Christmas and New Year bookings, at higher fares, led to a 16% increase in Scheduled Revenue to €1.19bn as we carried 36m guests at 9% higher fares. Ancillary Revenue increased by 28% to €0.72bn as more guests choose Priority Boarding and Preferred Seat services. In Oct., Ryanair Labs launched a new digital platform with improved, personalised, guest offers. Labs are now focused on improving penetration across key ancillary products over the coming quarters. Rentalcars.com became our new car hire partner in late 2019 and will help grow car hire penetration and revenue over the next 3 years.

Costs

Our fuel bill rose 14% (+€83m) to €0.7bn due to higher prices and 6% traffic growth. Ex-fuel unit costs rose by 1% due to higher staff (increased pilot pay, higher crew ratios as pilot resignations have slowed to almost zero) and maintenance costs (older aircraft longer in the fleet due to the Boeing MAX delivery delays), offset by falling EU261 costs due to improved punctuality. Our fuel is 90% hedged for FY20 at $71bbl and 90% of our FY21 fuel is now hedged at $61bbl, delivering over €100m fuel savings into FY21. We continue to negotiate attractive growth deals as airports compete to win Ryanair’s very limited traffic growth.

Group Airlines

The Group airlines continue to grow. In Q3 Buzz increased its fleet to 32 Boeing 737s and expanded outside Poland with new bases in Prague and Budapest. Buzz will grow its fleet to 50 Boeing 737s for summer 2020, with 7 aircraft in Polish charter operations and 43 operating scheduled flying for Ryanair.

Lauda continues to underperform with fares much lower than expected, despite strong traffic growth and high load factors. As announced on 10 Jan., this is a direct result of intense price competition with Lufthansa subsidiaries in both Germany and Austria. While Lauda will now carry 6.5m guests in FY20, average fares are well below those of other Group airlines. Lauda’s management is implementing a new cost cutting plan and is improving penetration on ancillary products. Lauda will grow its fleet from 23 to 38 A320s by S.20 with increased capacity in Vienna and a new base in Zadar.

Malta Air continues to grow strongly and has taken over the Group’s French, German, Italian and Maltese bases. Its fleet will grow to 120 aircraft by summer 2020.

Ryanair DAC saw its fleet reduced to 360 Boeing 737s in Q3 as both Buzz and Malta Air took over more flight operations for the Group. Armenia became the newest destination in Jan. Regrettably the Boeing MAX delivery delays mean that Ryanair DAC had to close a number of loss-making winter bases leading to some crew redundancies in Spain, Germany and Sweden. We have endeavoured to minimise job losses through base transfers & seasonal bases and continue to work with our people, their unions and our airports to finalize this process.

Boeing MAX update

Delivery of the Group’s first Boeing 737-MAX-200 aircraft has been repeatedly delayed from Q2 2019. It is now likely that our first MAX aircraft will not deliver until Sept. or Oct. 2020. The requirement for MAX simulator training will also slow down the delivery of backlogged aircraft and new deliveries. But we believe that these “gamechanger” aircraft (with 4% more seats, burn 16% less fuel), when delivered, will transform our cost base and our business for the next decade. Due to these delivery delays, we won’t see any of these cost savings until late FY21. As a direct result of these delivery delays, we plan to extend our 200m p.a. passenger target by at least one or two years to FY25 or FY26.

Balance Sheet & Shareholder Returns

Ryanair’s BBB+ rated balance sheet is one of the strongest in the industry. 70% of our aircraft are debt free. This allows us to grow while weaker airlines collapse, sell or retrench in the current challenging market. We have returned €440m to shareholders under our current €700m share buyback programme. Despite the share buyback and the impact of IFRS 16 (€230m), net debt was just over €700m at period end. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the Boeing MAX aircraft deliveries, peak Capex and maturing bonds in 2021, the Board has decided to extend the current €700m buyback programme until the end of July.

Outlook

As announced on 10 Jan., Ryanair’s FY20 PAT guidance has risen to a range of €0.95bn to €1.05bn thanks to stronger Christmas and New Year travel bookings, at better than expected fares. Q4 forward bookings are 1% ahead of this time last year at slightly better than expected average fares and we now expect full year traffic to grow by 8% to 154m guests. Ancillary revenues continue to grow, but at a slower rate having annualised the cabin bag changes in Nov. This will support full-year revenue per guest growth of between +3% to +4%. The full year fuel bill will rise by €440m and ex-fuel unit costs will increase by approx. 2%. On the basis of current trading, Ryanair expects to finish close to the mid-point of the new PAT guidance range. This guidance is heavily dependent on close-in Q4 fares and the absence of any security events.

Ryanair aircraft photo gallery:

Ryanair launches its new subsidiary, Malta Air, for now under the Ryanair brand

Ryanair has launched its new subsidiary, Malta Air, in Malta.

The pictured 9H-QAE (formerly EI-GDR) is one of the first to receive the new registration.

For now, the new airline is operating under the Ryanair brand although it is expected to soon adopt its own livery (below).

Previously on June 11, Ryanair Holdings announced it had agreed to purchase Malta Air, a Maltese start-up airline, into which Ryanair will move and grow its Malta based fleet of 6 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

This investment in Malta Air will allow Ryanair to grow its already sizable presence in Malta (3 million customers per year), and access non-EU markets (North Africa) from Malta. Completion is planned for the end of June, following which Ryanair Holdings will;

Switch 6 Malta based aircraft (worth over $600m) onto the Maltese register
200 Malta based crew move onto local contracts paying local Maltese taxes
Increase its Malta based fleet to 10 aircraft within three years and create over 350 jobs
Brand its Malta based fleet in Malta Air colors for Summer 2020
Move Ryanair based aircraft from France, Italy and Germany onto the Malta AOC which will allow these crews to pay their income taxes locally in France, Italy and Germany instead of Ireland where they are currently required to pay income taxes under Ryanair’s Irish AOC.

Top Copyright Photo: Ryanair (Malta Air) Boeing 737-800 WL 9H-QAE (msn 44812) (Ryanair colors) PMI (Javier Rodriguez). Image: 946824.

Ryanair to set up a subsidiary airline in Malta – Malta Air

Ryanair is planning to set up a new airline based in Malta called Malta Air. Ryanair will transfer its routes to the island to the new company once established.

The airline made this announcement of its purchase of Malta Air:

Ryanair Holdings on June 11 announced it has agreed to purchase Malta Air, a Maltese start up airline, into which Ryanair will move and grow its Malta based fleet of 6 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

This investment in Malta Air will allow Ryanair to grow its already sizable presence in Malta (3 million customers a year), and access non-EU markets (North Africa) from Malta. Completion is planned for the end of June, following which Ryanair Holdings will;

Switch 6 Malta based aircraft (worth over $600m) onto the Maltese register
200 Malta based crew move onto local contracts paying local Maltese taxes
Increase its Malta based fleet to 10 aircraft within three years and create over 350 jobs
Brand its Malta based fleet in Malta Air colors (below) for Summer 2020
Move Ryanair based aircraft from France, Italy and Germany onto the Malta AOC which will allow these crews to pay their income taxes locally in France, Italy and Germany instead of Ireland where they are currently required to pay income taxes under Ryanair’s Irish AOC.

Speaking in Malta today, Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary said:

“Ryanair is pleased to welcome Malta Air to the Ryanair Group of airlines which now includes Buzz (Poland), Lauda (Austria), Malta Air, and Ryanair (Ireland).

Malta Air will proudly fly the Maltese name and flag to over 60 destinations across Europe and North Africa as we look to grow our Maltese based fleet, routes, traffic and jobs over the next three years.

Ryanair’s continued partnership with the Malta Tourism Authority will help drive forward the vision of Prime Minister Muscat and Minister Mizzi to grow year round connections to all corners of Europe which will support increased tourism, business and jobs in Malta.

Ryanair appreciates the expertise of the Maltese Civil Aviation Directorate (CAD) in licencing Malta Air to operate the Boeing 737 aircraft and we look forward to working closely with the Maltese authorities over the coming years as we hope to add over 50 more aircraft to the Maltese register.”

Malta Minister for Tourism, Konrad Mizzi, said:

“The relationship between Ryanair and Malta has evolved into a successful collaboration. We welcome Ryanair’s commitment to operate and grow a fully fledged Malta-based airline which will contribute in a large way to the country’s development.”

Photo: Ryanair.