Ryanair flights fly despite pilots’ strike, shares continue descent

Ryanair flights continued as normal across UK airports on Thursday, despite the airline being unable to stop strike action by its pilots after failing with a last-minute legal challenge.

Passengers of the low-cost airline were expecting major disruptions ahead of the 48-hour walkout pilots had scheduled over pay and poor working conditions.

But despite the strike, Ryanair reassured its passengers that it plans to minimise disruption and delays and said it will continue to run its ‘full schedule of flights’.

To minimise disruption caused by the strike, Ryanair has drafted in pilots from elsewhere in Europe. So far, the tactic has worked, with the low-cost airline expecting another 48-hour walkout by its pilots in early September.

Ryanair shares continue to fall

On Monday, Ryanair’s stock climbed more than 3% to €8.87 a share after news broke that the airline was seeking an injunction to prevent pilots from striking. But in the days that followed, its share price has slumped more than 4%, with it at €8.45 a share as of 10:30 GMT on Thursday.

Granted, the airlines share price may have fallen far further had it not handled the pilots’ strike as efficiently as it has done, but its underlying performance has been poor this summer.

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Weak Q2 results from Ryanair

The low-cost airline announced a 24% slump in pre-tax profit to €262.3 million in its second quarter (Q2) results at the end of July.

Ryanair’s results came in far worse than analysts expected, with Refinitiv’s consensus forecast expecting the airline’s profit to fall by just 16%.

Revenue and traffic both increased by 11% over the period, but aggressive price competition among European airlines has hurt margins across the sector.