* Loss likely close to 1 billion euros
* Recovery to accelerate from July
* Traffic 70-90% of normal levels next winter
(Adds O'Leary forecasts 'dramatic recovery'; share price flat)
By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Ryanair expects to lose
close to 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in its current financial
year, by far its worst ever performance, but Chief Executive
Michael O'Leary forecast a "dramatic recovery" this summer on
vaccine roll-outs.
The Irish low-cost airline, Europe's largest, forecast a
loss of between 850 and 950 million euros in its current
financial year, which ends on March 31, around 5 times larger
than its previous record annual loss posted in 2009.
Group Chief Executive Michael O'Leary in a statement
described the year as the most challenging in Ryanair's 35 year
history.
But he told Ireland's national broadcaster RTE to expect a
"dramatic recovery" this summer on widespread vaccine roll-out,
particularly in the United Kingdom.
The recovery should accelerate in July and September, the
second quarter of the airline's financial year, before returning
to 70% and 90% of normal levels between October and March, said
Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan.
"We hope to be getting back to some kind of normality" in
the winter, Sorahan said.
COVID-19 restrictions slashed Ryanair passenger numbers by
78% in the last three months of the year, the third quarter of
its financial calendar, pushing it to a quarterly loss of 306
million euros ($371.06 million). That compares with a loss of
300 million euro forecast in a company poll of analysts.
Ryanair's 82% fall in revenue in the quarter compared with
falls of 88% at rival easyJet and 77% at Wizz,
which both reported results last week.
Ryanair is widely seen as one of the best-placed airlines in
the world to weather the COVID-19 crisis due to its large cash
balance and lack of long-haul and business-class.
It said it had cash on hand of 3.5 billion euros at the end
of December, compared with 4.5 billion at the end of September.
"The ‘in-line’ Q3’21 and the strong cash balance sheet of
the company may be enough today to buoy investor sentiments
after the volatility of last week," Citi analyst Mark Manduca
said in a note.
Ryanair's share price was flat at 14.30 euros at 0845 GMT,
down 15% from its pre-COVID peak of 16.9 euros on Jan. 10 last
year.
The airline said it would fly between 26 million and 30
million passengers in the year to end-March compared with 149
million in its previous financial year. It could fly anywhere
between 80 million and 120 million passengers in the year to
end-March 2022, O'Leary said.
Ryanair in December ordered an additional 75 Boeing
737 MAX jets in what was the largest order since the plane was
grounded in early 2019 following two fatal crashes.
The jet was cleared in January to resume flying in the European
Union.
Ryanair expects its first delivery in March with at least 24
of the 210 it has on order arriving in time for its peak summer
season.
($1 = 0.8247 euros)
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Jacqueline Wong,
Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)
easyJet (EZJ)
