Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Michael O’Leary: Okay. Neil, I will ask you through the ancillaries, you are calm [ph] here. Just in relation to Boeing, like, it’s a movable feast here. Originally, we thought we would be down five. Then it looks like we were going to be down 10. Now, we think our best guess is that by the end of June, we will be off about seven aircraft. Now, that could be nine, it could be five. We are working. We have eight aircraft deliveries due in May. There is seven due in June, and then there is about nine in July, and we are hoping that we will get some of those July’s into June. I mean I think it’s fair to say we would also take some deliveries to the first 7 days or 10 days of July, but we have said to Boeing that under no circumstance that we have take an aircraft after there is a weekend there a 13, 14 in July.

We are not taking aircraft because, frankly, if we are not certain to get them before that, we can’t put them on sale. And so I think we are working well with the team in Seattle. There is a big focus on those aircraft deliveries in June and – or in May, June and the first couple of weeks of July. And we think there is a reasonable prospect that we will get 50 aircraft might be 52, it could be 48. The big driver, though, it’s certainly not going to be 57, and we accept that. And what we have said to Boeing if we don’t get them by that second, we get that second we get in July. We are not taking them until October, which is why, again, our number for next year has moved back from kind of originally 205 million towards 200 million. But it’s movable.

We would be hopeful that Boeing will do slightly better. But if they have other unforeseen events like the MAX 9 issue, it might move slightly back the other way. Ancillaries and modest growth, Neil?

Neil Sorahan: Yes. Ruairi, we are very much on track to what we said we would do this year. And we said we would be up €0.50 to €0.60 on a per passenger basis. That’s exactly where we are going with €23 per passenger in the quarter just end this. And remember, there is a big step-up in ancillaries after COVID, where we have jumped from about €18 a passenger to €23 a passenger today. Longer term, we think we will track ahead of the growth in passenger numbers. So, a couple of percent, 2% to 3% per passenger increase in spend for the next 2 years or 3 years. So, we are bang on where we thought we would be.

Michael O’Leary: And certainly, I mean again, and I come back to the OTA point, if we can convert a number of the OTAs into partners who are no longer charging for ancillaries, you might see actually an increase in ancillary conversion and some pricing improvement because the people were originally paying €20 or €30 for a €10 bag. They may well – we may convert more and with yields we might get €11 or €12 on average for those bags. Thanks Ruairi. Next question, please.

Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Gerald Khoo from Liberum. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Michael O’Leary: Gerald, hi.

Gerald Khoo: More than two, if I can. Firstly, on the balance sheet, looking at current assets and the other assets line which sits just below €1.2 billion, I was just wondering what that line relates to? And how and when that might convert into cash? And secondly, on the MAX 10, I know you are first in it where you saw 2 years after the first ones. At what point do you get concerned about certification delays impacting that sort of early 2027 delivery date for yourselves?

Michael O’Leary: We have got to take the MAX 10. I am going to ask maybe Tracey McCann here, would you that current as the rest of the issue. MAX 10 deliveries, the first delivery – the North American airlines are scheduled to take place at the end of calendar ‘24, early calendar ‘25. I don’t think we would be concerned about our first delivery that we only take 17 aircraft in the first half of 2027. So, I think we will begin to get concerned if they miss the summer ‘25, if the first deliveries of the MAX 10 run into the winter of ‘25, spring of ‘26, I think at that stage, we will start to get a little bit concerned. We don’t honestly foresee there being that kind of a significant delay. These aircraft are – there are kind of adoption slots there in Seattle, in which tone in Seattle for them.

I think the issue is more certification. They are still hopeful that the MAX 7 will be certified in the current quarter and delivered – the first one delivered. They are already built and the first delivered to Southwest for summer of 2024. So, I wouldn’t want to be complacent, but I mean I am reasonably happy that we are not the lead customer for the MAX 10. But given that we are taking our first aircraft 2 years after the first scheduled deliveries to the American Airlines, I would be reasonably relaxed. And Tracey, do you want to take that point on the other assets.

Tracey McCann: For the prepayment, payment for the other assets, prepayments of 53 payments from airport tariff is due to [Technical Difficulty].

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