Ryanair blames "media hysteria" for dive in passenger numbers

Europe's budget airline blamed "media hysteria" over the omicron variant for larger than anticipated losses at the end of 2021. Photo / Pexels

Budget airline Ryanair has hit out against media, claiming omicron-related "hysteria" was partly to blame for larger than expected losses.

During the last three months of 2021, Europe's biggest budget airline reported a loss of €96 million (NZ$164 million).

Typically, Christmas and New Year provide a boost in flight bookings across Europe, however, due to sudden travel restrictions, Ryanair flew just 9.5 million passengers; well below their expected target of 11 million.

According to Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary, the combination of omicron and the media response, said, were to blame.

"The sudden emergence of the Omicron variant in late November, and the media hysteria it generated in December, forced many European governments to reimpose travel restrictions in the run-up to Christmas," he said.

On December 13, Ryanair joined forces with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to critique the government's response to the new Covid-19 variant.

Written under the organisation 'Airlines UK', the letter said: "Whilst we fully recognise the need to take steps to contain the initial impact of the Omicron variant, travel has been singled out with the introduction of disproportionate restrictions."

By December 22, Ryanair cut its capacity by one third for January.

According to O'Leary, it's a matter of weathering the storm until governments better understand omicron and travel can resume.

"We hope that the rollout of booster vaccines across Europe in recent weeks, and growing evidence that Omicron is less virulent than other variants, will enable EU governments to remove travel restrictions and restore consumer confidence," he said.

Ryanair will be flying 720 new routes and 15 new bases later this year but will close its Frankfurt base due to "excessive charges."

To add insult to injury, the price of jet fuel has doubled in the last year, which could result in pricier fares for customers and further challenge airline recovery.

Fortunately, O'Leary said Ryanair's "very strong and sensible" risk management strategies meant they could still deliver "significant savings" for customers.

Additionally, he remained positive that by 2026 Ryanair would be carrying 225 million passengers annually; 125 million more than current numbers.