Last checked at 
* H1 loss 197 mln euros; H2 loss to be bigger
* 2021 capacity could be half 2019 levels
* No MAX compensation deal yet with Boeing
(Updates with share price, balance sheet stronger than
expected)
By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Ryanair on Monday posted a
loss for its key summer period for the first time in 30 years as
COVID-19 restrictions pulverized demand and warned it may only
carry half its normal passenger numbers next year.
But a stronger than expected balance sheet bolstered
investor sentiment and the Irish airline avoided a sharp drop in
share price seen by British rivals in the wake of the
announcement of a 4-week lockdown in England on
Saturday.
Shares in Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, were
down 1% at 0825 GMT, while British rivals easyJet and
British Airways owner International Airlines Group each
fell by over 5% on the UK lockdown.
COVID-19 restrictions slashed Ryanair passenger numbers by
80% in the six months to Sept. 30, the first half of its
financial year and the period when it typically makes most of
its annual profit, pushing it to a 197 million euros ($230
million) loss.
That was the first summer loss recorded by the airline since
1990. It recorded a profit of 1.15 billion euros in the same
period last year.
The loss was less than the 244 million euro forecast in a
company poll of analysts.
Ryanair did not give a profit guidance for the full-year,
but Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said it was likely to post a
deeper loss in the second half of the year, which would make it
the airline's first annual loss since 2009.
O'Leary, who in September described the upcoming winter as a
"write-off", said the airline still planned to fly 40% of last
year's traffic levels in the winter, but said European traffic
could fall as low as 25% of last year's levels.
The airline expects to fly 38 million passengers in the year
to end-March compared with 149 million last year, but warned
that the number could fall further "if EU governments continue
to mismanage air travel and impose more uncoordinated travel
restrictions".
Ryanair is planning to fly between 50% and 80% of its
pre-pandemic capacity next year, depending on how the pandemic
develops, Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan told RTE radio.
CASH PILE GROWS
Ryanair, which has one of the airline industry's strongest
balance sheets, said its cash on hand grew to 4.5 billion euros
at the end of September from 3.9 billion euros in the previous
quarter, bolstered by a 250 million euro supplier reimbursement
from Boeing. It also owns aircraft worth over 7 billion euros.
Goodbody Analyst Mark Simpson said the balance sheet was
stronger than expected.
"Ryanair has delivered everything investors might have
wanted from the release in what remains unprecedented negative
trading conditions," Simpson said.
Ryanair said it had yet to finalise terms with Boeing
on compensation for the 18-month delay of deliveries of the
grounded 737 MAX jet and on a possible new plane order.
Sorahan told Reuters that Ryanair was also talking with
Airbus about a possible order of the A320 or A321, but added
that talks with Boeing for more MAX jets were "more advanced."
Ryanair expects to receive its first MAX jet in late January
or early February and expects to have at least 30 in time for
its peak summer season next year, Sorahan said.
($1 = 0.8597 euros)
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Christopher Cushing
and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
