BUSINESS NEWS


Ryanair expects to create 1,000 more UK jobs by 2030


Ryanair expects UK passenger numbers to grow by 22% to 65 million a year by 2030. The forecast rise from 53 million


last year was outlined by chief executive Michael O’Leary as he repeated criticism of air traffic control provider Nats and increased levels of Air Passenger Duty.


Michael O’Leary O’Leary spoke out as the airline


issued an independent report by York Aviation showing that Ryanair contributes £14 billion a year to UK economic growth and development, including 98,000 jobs


supporting a fleet of 115 UK-based aircraft operating 600 routes in and out of the country. The carrier expects to create


more than 1,000 UK jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers by 2030 and plans to open a new engineering training facility at Prestwick. O’Leary said: “We plan to


deliver more growth and investment in the UK over the rest of this decade, during which we expect to grow our UK traffic by 22% from 53 million in 2023 to 65 million by 2030 and create another 1,000 UK jobs across our 22 UK airports.”


Nats boss: We’ve already taken ATC remedial action


Ian Taylor


The head of National Air Traffic Services (Nats) told MPs that the interim report on the air traffic control meltdown last August Bank Holiday “broadly concurred” with Nats’ own findings. Appearing before the Transport


Select Committee of MPs last week, Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe said he welcomed the interim report published last month by a CAA- commissioned panel into the failure which led to flight cancellations and delays hitting 700,000 passengers. Rolfe told MPs: “It broadly


concurred with our findings, that we understood the cause of the failure and how to fix it, and we had fixed it. “It identified some of the same


areas we did in our report on where we can make improvements, particularly around communications.” Rolfe argued: “We cross-checked


the interim report with our findings and the recommendations coming


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from that. There is nothing in there that we hadn’t already taken action on or have not now acted upon.” He added: “There are obviously


some wider considerations the panel is looking at – such as the resilience of the entire system – which we can’t do on our own.” Rolfe assured the committee:


“I’m very comfortable we are ready now for an event. We’re putting the finishing touches, but we’re confident we’re in the right place.” He was asked to respond to


remarks made to the committee last week by CAA chairman Sir Stephen Hillier who suggested the scale of the incident showed “the system is running pretty tight and this needs to be looked at further”. Rolfe said: “My understanding is Sir


Stephen was talking about the aviation system in its entirety, not just Nats.” He argued: “The challenge in


summer will always be if anything goes wrong the system is very tight. Every seat is sold. The system works


Martin Rolfe


in such a tight environment that there is simply no space to recover.” Rolfe confirmed that 579 flights


were delayed on the day by an average of one hour 54 minutes and that about 1,500 flights were cancelled although “we have still not seen a definitive number of cancelled flights as no single body collates that”. The interim report attributed the


scale of the disruption to engineers not being on site over the bank holiday, saying this made the problem “more protracted than it might otherwise have been”.


Wizz back in profit despite groundings


Wizz Air returned to profit in the past financial year despite having 45 aircraft grounded at the end of March due to engine issues. The total involved due to a recall


of Pratt & Whitney GTF engines was disclosed in a trading update for the financial year to March 31. Net income in the range of


€350 million to €370 million is expected to be reported for the 2023-24 financial year, in line with guidance. Total revenue is projected to be in the range of €5.05 billion to €5.1 billion “reflecting stronger ticket revenue and pricing, partially offset by softer ancillaries in H2 as a result of . . . geopolitical events”.


Norwegian reduces first-quarter losses


Norwegian Air Group trimmed seasonal operating losses by more than £10 million to £55.7 million in the traditionally weaker first quarter of the year. The period included the


completion of the acquisition of regional carrier Wideroe in January, adding 49 aircraft to the 87 operated by Norwegian Air. The company said its operating


profit in the three months to March 31 had been negatively impacted by “currency revaluation effects” due to a weaker Norwegian krone, resulting in a net loss of more than £9 million.


Norwegian Air Group cut Q1 losses to £55.7m


2 MAY 2024 47


PICTURE: Shutterstock/Alexandros Michailidis


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