Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says he is seeing the start of a strong rebound for travel as the easing of lockdown releases pent-up demand.
Europe’s biggest budget airline revealed the scale of the coronavirus collapse in travel – an 815 million Euro loss and traffic down 81% in the year to end March on the previous 12 months.
But O’Leary said there were signs the “recovery has already begun”.
Bookings are up from 500,000 a week in early April to 1.5 million a week ago.
“The rate of bookings suggests there is a huge amount of confidence,” said O’Leary. “We are very optimistic for the next couple of months.”
He predicted that after “most European populations are vaccinated by September”, the airline should see a particularly strong recovery in October to March, the second half of its financial year.
“For vaccinated Britons going to the beaches of Portugal, Spain and Greece, I think there is very little risk. Everybody is right to be cautious, but I think everybody can take their holiday in Europe with a high degree of confidence.”
O’Leary further said that the air travel sector was offering some “good deals” for this summer as it tried to kick-start demand after a torrid year.
