By Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk
WARSAW (Reuters) -Ryanair said demand for travel this summer was showing no signs of cooling, with strong bookings and rising ticket prices, even as a severe heatwave recently engulfed Europe, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said on Tuesday.
O’Leary reaffirmed the Irish low-budget airline’s May forecast, noting it expects to recover most, but not all, of the 7% decline in average fares recorded last year as consumers grappled with high interest rates.
“Bookings into summer 2025 are strong, prices are rising,” he said, adding that demand for destinations such as Italy, Greece, Spain, the Balearics, the Canaries and Morocco remains robust.
The CEO also said market consensus anticipates Ryanair’s after-tax profit for the first quarter ending in June to double, stating, “We see no reason to alter or object to that consensus, but we can’t comment on that”. The company is scheduled to release its first-quarter results on July 21.
Addressing concerns over extreme weather, O’Leary described heatwaves as a “temporary phenomenon” that does not seem to be affecting travel patterns this summer.
O’Leary, whose airline sources almost all of its aircraft from Boeing, said he was hopeful that commercial aircraft will be exempt from U.S. and EU tariffs, but admitted that “nobody is really sure”.
Speaking in Warsaw, O’Leary announced plans to treble the number of passengers Ryanair serves at the city’s Modlin airport to more than 5 million a year by 2030.
The company plans to invest $400 million in Modlin and double the number of aircraft based there to eight from four, while still flying from the city’s main airport, Okecie.
Air traffic in Modlin had been falling in the last three years due to a dispute with Ryanair over fares, but O’Leary said it would now be “the fastest growing airport in Poland”.
As part of the deal, Modlin Airport has undertaken to build at least four new passenger check-in desks and four new parking stands by September 2027.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Louise Heavens)
