Irish airline Ryanair says it is expecting to cut fares this winter to help boost passenger demand. While the airline has seen business picking up recently, it warned it was still recovering from the Covid-related collapse in air travel. It has reported a narrowing of half-year losses, but warned its annual deficit could hit €200m (£170m).
Boss Michael O'Leary told the BBC the industry was seeing a "very strong recovery" across Europe. However, he said heavy price discounting would be needed to fill aircraft this winter.
Keeping prices low and passenger numbers high would "set us up strongly for a very strong recovery", he said.
O'Leary added that the number of empty seats per plane would shrink from around 20% to under 10% by next summer. The airline expects to return to profitability in the year ending March 2023. "We're seeing very strong recovery in short-haul travel across Europe and it is being led by Ryanair," he said.
He said there had been a "dramatic" recovery in passenger numbers, from eight million in the three months to June to 31 million in the following three months.
