Ryanair Buoyant Despite Cancellations

Ryanair has said it still expects to make record annual profits this year, despite disruptions to its schedules that led it to cancel 20,000 flights, according to BCC. 

The Irish airline said it made profits of €1.29bn (£1.14bn) in the six months to the end of September and forecast a full-year profit of up to €1.45bn.

Chief operations officer Michael Hickey resigned following the mishap.

The cancellations arose because pilots' rosters had to be changed to comply with new aviation rules.

Ryanair's shares rose more than 4% in early trading in response to the company's results.

The flight cancellations were announced in September and would not have made much difference to the first-half profits.

However, rival airlines have reported an increase in bookings following the cancellations, as passengers were afraid of the effect on future Ryanair flights.

Ryanair's chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said he was "absolutely confident" that the airline would have enough pilots and standby pilots for next summer.

Mr Sorahan said the rostering problem was caused by human error, not a systems failure.

He said pilots at 10 of its 86 bases had approved a new pay deal and that management continued to engage with pilots.