Ryanair (LON: RYA) has reported a 20 percent drop in first quarter profits.
The airline blamed oil prices and a fall in fares for the fall in profits, which fell to €319 million (£285 million).
The group is also amid strike action by staff over pay and conditions.
“While we continue to actively engage with pilot and cabin crew unions across Europe, we expect further strikes over the peak summer period as we are not prepared to concede to unreasonable demands that will compromise either our low fares or our highly efficient model,” said Ryanair.
Wednesday and Thursday will see the cancellation of 600 flights due to strikes by cabin crew based in Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Over 100,000 passengers have been affected by this week’s strike.
“If these unnecessary strikes continue to damage customer confidence and forward prices/yields in certain country markets then we will have to review our winter schedule,” said Ryanair, warning that it might cut jobs at bases where industrial action has taken place.
The group also expressed concerns over a hard Brexit.
“While there is a view that a 21-month transition agreement from March 2019 to December 2020 will be implemented (and extended), recent events in the UK political sphere have added to this uncertainty, and we believe that the risk of a hard Brexit is being underestimated.”
“It is likely that in the event of a hard Brexit our UK shareholders will be treated as non-EU. We may be forced to restrict the voting rights of all non-EU shareholders in the event of a hard Brexit, to ensure that Ryanair remains majority owned and controlled by EU shareholders.”
Despite the fall in profits for the quarter between April and June, the airline has said that it expects to meet profit forecasts of €1.25 billion-€1.35 billion for the full year.
