Travel sites dropping Ryanair affect sales

The airline states these platforms contribute only a ‘minor portion’ to its bookings, yet the decision has impacted the load factor.

In December, Ryanair revealed a 10% discount promotion for over 400,000 fares valid for travel from January to the end of March. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters

Ryanair reported a decline in ticket sales as several prominent online booking platforms removed the budget airline’s flights from their listings.

The largest airline in Europe mentioned that in early December, the majority of major online travel agent sites, including Booking.com, Kiwi, and Kayak, abruptly removed Ryanair’s flights from availability on their platforms.

The airline stated that although these travel sites constituted only a “small fraction” of Ryanair’s bookings, the abrupt removal had a 1% to 2% impact on its load factor in December and January, affecting short-term yields. Load factor represents the percentage of available seats sold on each flight. In response, Ryanair has countered by offering more competitively priced fares directly to consumers through its own website.

In December, the airline unveiled a 10% discount promotion on over 400,000 fares for travel from January to the end of March.

Ryanair asserted that the exclusion of its flights from travel websites would not significantly impact its full-year financial projections for passenger numbers or profits.

The company expressed appreciation for the websites’ decision, alleging that many of them impose excessive fees on customers.

Ryanair will react to the positive exclusion of our flights from online travel agent (OTA) websites by reducing fares as needed. This aims to encourage all passengers to make direct bookings on Ryanair.com, ensuring they consistently receive the lowest fares without facing OTA overcharges, deceptive contact information, or other pricing/refund schemes.

Ryanair mentioned the uncertainty surrounding the cause of its removal from certain sites, speculating that it might be linked to a recent Irish high court ruling. This ruling granted Ryanair a permanent injunction against Flightbox, accusing it of “unlawfully scraping Ryanair.com content” for online travel agents.

The company clarified that its flights remain accessible on certain platforms like Google Flights, emphasizing that these platforms do not impose hidden mark-ups. Instead, they direct consumers to finalize their bookings directly on Ryanair’s website.

Wednesday’s update from the airline revealed a 9% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers for December. However, the load factor experienced a one-percentage-point decline.

Last month, over 900 Ryanair flights faced cancellations due to the Israel-Gaza war and the temporary suspension of flights to Tel Aviv and neighboring Jordan.

This update coincides with an ongoing conflict between Ryanair and online booking sites. The airline initiated legal proceedings in the US against Booking Holdings, the owner of Booking.com, along with its subsidiaries such as Kayak, Agoda, and Priceline.