Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary: “People are worried that prices will go up in the summer… I think they will.”

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the airline received 2.03 million flight bookings over the past weekend.

It surpassed the airline’s previous record weekend of 1.6 million set in early 2019 when seats were sharply reduced.

Mr O’Leary told reporters at a press conference in the City of London on Tuesday: “Yes, there is a lot of cheap seating out there, but it’s not a seat sale.

“There just seems to be a very strong demand out there.

“People worry that prices will go up in the summer – which I think will happen.

“People get in early and book their Easter and summer trips.”

The record bookings were fueled by British consumers planning trips abroad for Easter and the summer, the airline said.

Mr O’Leary said he expected average fares to rise by “high single digit percentages” this year compared to 2022.

The veteran airline boss doesn’t think fares as low as €9.99 will return “for the next year or two” due to high oil prices.

He attributed the strong booking performance despite the cost-of-living crisis to people’s decision to “scrimp and save” elsewhere to “protect their holidays”.

“One of the things that has come out of Covid is the annual holiday or second holiday or week in the sun that is no longer seen by many as a luxury that we can drop,” he said.

Mr O’Leary added that the pandemic has “accelerated” the consolidation process in the aviation sector.

He believes easyJet will eventually “be bought by either British Airways or Air France or both together”.

Earlier this month, Ryanair raised its profit forecast.

Strong Christmas business meant that the airline now expects earnings after taxes of between slightly more than 1.3 billion euros and 1.4 billion euros for the financial year.

This is an increase from 1 billion euros to 1.2 billion euros, which the company had previously distributed to shareholders.