The Irish lowcoster Ryanair assumes that by the end of March 2021 - the end of the financial year - the target mark of 38 million passengers can no longer be reached. Company boss Michael O'Leary is no longer so optimistic and expects that the level of 2019 can be reached "in autumn 2021 at the earliest".

So far, the manager has been extremely confident that the record course can be continued with cheap prices from spring 2021. The latest slump in demand now seems to have led to less optimism among the Ryanair boss. Speaking to Reuters, O'Leary said he expects 80 to 130 million passengers in the coming fiscal year, adding that this will depend heavily on the speed and willingness to vaccinate the population.

Another factor that the Ryanair boss mentioned: If existing entry and quarantine restrictions are slowly removed, it would have a negative impact on demand across the industry. The sooner and faster this happens, the better the prospects for Ryanair and all other airlines.

Regarding the planned capacity, Michael O'Leary said that he expects 2021 to 60 percent of the 80 supply over the entire year 2019. In midsummer he suspects that the Ryanair Group will carry out around 60 to 70 percent of the capacity. For the winter flight schedule 2021/2022, the manager expects that “the flight schedule of 2019 can almost be achieved”.