Warnings from rival easyJet give Ryanair a bumpy ride
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Close to €270m was wiped off Ryanair's value yesterday after economic warnings from fellow budget carrier easyJet helped send Europe's aviation stocks into a downward spiral.
Shares in the Irish airline temporarily fell as much as 8pc, marking Ryanair's worst plunge on the stockmarket since 2004 when the airline's first ever profit-warning propelled shares downwards.
Meanwhile, shares in Aer Lingus stayed stubbornly around their opening level, defying their own less-than-impressive passenger figures which revealed just 68pc of seats were filled in December.
EasyJet itself was the biggest airline casualty of the day, as shares in the low-cost carrier plummeted as much as 14pc after the airline reported it had filled just 78.9pc of seats in December.
That figure compared unfavourably with the 81.1pc of seats filled in December 2006, but analysts said the airline's comments that Britain's economy was heading for a "sharp" slowdown was the main culprit for the share dive.
With six bases in the Britain including its largest operational base at Stansted, Ryanair shares were quickly caught up in easyJet's slipstream even though the Irish airline last week reported more positive figures than its UK rival.
"It wasn't just the detail of easyJet's numbers, there's been bad news all around us this year with oil prices and sterling, as well as the economic climate," said one analyst.
"They say travel and leisure is the first sector hit in an economic down-turn so it's not surprising we're seeing this."
EasyJet's figures showed the fall in the percentage of seats filled in December came as the airline grew passenger numbers by 9.9pc.
Ryanair has been more bullish at expanding capacity, growing passenger numbers by 18pc in December and still filling 79pc of its seats (down from 81pc in December 2006), suggesting more resilience in the Irish airline's model.
Meanwhile, Aer Lingus yesterday reported that it had filled just 68pc of seats in December, down from the 72.6pc of seats filled in December.
Longhaul saw the greatest drop, as just 71.4pc of seats were occupied, down from 80.4pc the previous year, while the percentage of seats filled on short haul fell from 66.6pc to 65pc.
The figures give the former national carrier one of the lowest rate of seats filled in Europe, but Aer Lingus was quick to point out that the fall in seats filled came at a time of ballooning capacity (up 17.1pc in short haul and 29.9pc in longhaul).
"The figures aren't that bad really and they were broadly in line with what we were expecting," said one analyst.
Dublin stockbrokers NCB were less forgiving, with a research note attributing the decline in short haul to increased competition from Ryanair.
That notion was swiftly dismissed by sources in Aer Lingus, who pointed out that there had been no particular increase in competition in December.
The airline's shares, which are highly illiquid, closed down less than 1pc at €2.10.
Elsewhere, shares in Air France KLM fell as much as 3.8pc after the airline reported a 0.8pc fall in seats filled for December, while shares in Iberia fell by 4pc and British Airways was down by 3.3pc.
- Laura Noonan
