‘Good news for passengers, bad news for shareholders’ as Ryanair fares expected to stay down

There’s good news for holidaymakers as the boss of Ryanair suggests fares could keep falling through the winter and into next year.

Michael O’Leary told reporters that fares for the budget airline had been predicted to rise by 10% from July to September – but instead will fall 5%.

We reported earlier this month that resorts around Europe have been lowering rates due to lower demand – with the post-COVID boom easing and travellers reluctant to keep paying premium prices.

Mr O’Leary said it was reasonable to expect that fares could stay down by 5% in the six months to the end of the financial year in March.

“More people are flying with us this summer at lower fares,” said Mr O’Leary.

“Good news for our passengers, bad news for our shareholders.”

Booze limit

In separate comments, Mr O’Leary has said plane passengers should be restricted to two drinks at airports to tackle a rise in disorder on flights.

“We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000ft.”

He added it was difficult for staff to identify drunk passengers as they board: “As long as they can stand up and shuffle they will get through. Then when the plane takes off, we see the misbehaviour.”

Weak dollar is lowering fuel prices

It’s another good morning for anyone travelling to the US as the pound has remained near a more-than two-year high against the dollar. 

A pound still buys $1.32, meaning sterling goes further than at any point in the last 29 months. 

Market observers expect the US central bank to sizably cut interest rates, which is weakening the value of the dollar. 

As oil is paid for in dollars, having the currency weakened can make importing motor fuels cheaper. This morning, the benchmark oil price has fallen below $80 a barrel, standing at $78.79, the lowest since Friday last week.  

The share prices of the biggest companies on the London Stock Exchange are down 0.02% for the 100 most valuable (the FTSE 100) and 0.06% for the 101st to 350th most valuable (the more UK-based companies of the FTSE 250).