Aviation

O’Leary: Ryanair shareholders won’t get cash return until 2024

Chief executive expects his airline to recover from Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, achieving net zero debt in the next two years

Michael O’Leary, chief executive, Ryanair: ‘We are generating a lot of cash, but we have a lot of debt and capex to fund over the next two years’. Picture: Getty

Ryanair has said it does not expect to return cash to shareholders until at least March 2024, the end of its next financial year, despite the strength of its post-Covid-19 recovery.

At the end of June 2022, the airline’s net debt had fallen to €400 million from the €1.45 billion it recorded on March 31. But it said the next two years would be a period of capital expenditure of over €2 billion per year, ...