In a refresh deal with his company, Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, has observed a surge in his total remuneration, nearing €4.7 million. As per the arrangement starting from April the previous year, Mr O’Leary’s basic salary has been fixed for 2024 to be €1.2 million. His performance-linked bonus for the year, which can mount up to half of his basic salary, has augmented by €590,000.
According to the year-end report of the airline, an amount of €2.89 million was additionally added to his bundle, which represents a non-cash, technical accounting cost for 10 million share options that are yet to unfold under Mr O’Leary’s employment agreement.
In 2019, a consensus with the airline granted Mr O’Leary nearly €100 million share options, assuming that the firm’s stock value graced over €21 incessantly for 28 days, alternatively, the company reporting annual post-tax profits of €2.2 billion.
The post-tax profit according to the annual report has escalated to €1.92 billion in the year concluding on 31st March, concurrently, the net cash also bolstering to €1.37 billion. During this one-year span, the total revenue has stood at €13.4 billion, elevating from the previous year’s €10.8 billion. The highest individual contributor was Italy, yielding over €2.8 billion, trailed by Spain at €2.4 billion and UK at €2 billion. Meanwhile, the Irish revenue was a nominal €790 million.
The airline traffic has been on recovery path after the pandemic restrictions, handling 183.7 million customers throughout the year. Although a bit lower than the projected 185 million passengers, attributing it to delays in the arrival of new aircraft, the company stated.
For the peak summer season, the company is experiencing a shortfall of about 20 aircraft, implying a further decrease in the traffic targets for the ensuing year by nearly 5 million.
Cost escalation has also been a problem for Ryanair, as per the report, with an increase in fuel bill by €1.25 billion last year. They have managed to hedge approx. 70 per cent of its fuel for the incoming year.