Ryanair is one of many airlines badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The budget carrier has grounded 99 percent of its fleet as travel grinds to a halt. Ryanair is currently only operating a limited schedule which has been extended to April 23.
The Ryanair chief told Reuters he predicts that there will be a swift traffic rebound following the crisis.
He said the pain would instead come from “massive price-dumping” that traditional airlines seeking bailouts would struggle to keep up with.
O’Leary stated: “When this thing is over there is going to be such massive discounting going on that there will be a large spike upward in travel and tourism for a period of time.”
He added that soon “volumes will be back on a normal footing but on lower pricing.”
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He continued: “The minute we’re about to start flying again we’ll start doing seat sales, and so will every other airline.”
However, he believes that Ryanair will be well-equipped for such ticket price cuts.
What’s more, he told Reuters, the recovery’s focus won’t be on making money but getting the aircraft back into the air and the airline’s pilots and cabin crew back to work.
O’Leary explained that he is pro anti-coronavirus measures including masks and temperature checks for passengers and crew.
The Ryanair CEO also predicted that 2021 would prove to be a “bumper year in terms of earnings,” as he dismissed the potential for weak profits.
Ryanair flights are recurrently unlikely to return to normal schedule until at least June.
The change fee for flights booked up to the end of May has been waived.
Customers can change these to a date up until the end of August.
