Ryanair posts Q3 loss

Ryanair today issued it's Q3 results for the quarter ended December 31 2008. The airline posted a loss of €102m for the period compared to a profit of €35m for the same quarter last year. Average fares fell 9% to €34 while fuel costs rose 71% to €328m. Passenger numbers grew 13% to 14m with revenue rising 6% to €604.5.

The loss for the period is almost entirely attributable to fuel costs which increased by €136m. Fuel accounted for 47% of operating costs at Ryanair in Q3. Excluding fuel costs, cost per passenger fell by 3%.

Ancillary revenue grew 19% to €132m in Q3 and now accounts for 22% of total earnings. Ryanair are planning to introduce mobile telephony on 20 Dublin based aircraft at the end of February for a 6 month trial period, eventually adding another 20 aircraft to the scheme by the end of the summer. The airline expects that initially revenue will be thin from the scheme but forecast a strong contribution to ancillary earnings going forward.

On the subject of the failed bid to takeover Aer Lingus the airline says that "It is doubtful that Ryanair will waste any further management time or resources making another offer for Aer Lingus, as it's scale and losses will continue to render it increasingly irrelevant in Europe's airline landscape."

Looking to the full year results, Ryanair has changed the previous guidance which anticipated a loss to now predict a full year profit of between €50m and €80m, helped by lower oil prices and continuing reductions in non-oil operating costs.