Ryanair has fallen heavy into a loss on their 1st quarter, and they warned on Monday that they may suffer a loss of as much as 60 million euros for the whole year with the pressure of falling airfares and surging fuel prices. Late Monday morning, the trading shares of Ryanair were down by 13% and only triggered more drops across the sector of aviation, as they warned that it may lose money this year. During the 3 months from April to June, the biggest budget airline in Europe reported a fall of 85% in their underlying net profits to 21 million euros from 139 million. Ryanair has suffered severely by losing their gamble that the price of oil would drop. Without the hedging protection of their fuel requirements, the airline has been fully burdened with the extremely quick rise in fuel prices.

On Monday, Ryanair said that their policy has been turned around, and they have began hedging again for the early part of the winter. Despite their small profit for the quarter, they were pushed hard into a loss by exceptional items, some of which include a second large 93.6 million euro write-down for the value of their 29.8% share in Aer Lingus, and by a 17.9 million euro accelerated depreciation on 15 of their older planes that they plan to sell during the next 2 years. Michael O’Leary, the Chief Executive of Ryanair, said that the trading conditions have been hard under the impact that the higher price of fuel, as well as the timing of Easter, which was in March instead of April, has had on them.

Go to www.ryanair.com for more information.