Ryanair’s charm offensive pays off as profits soar to €197m.
Ryanair’s net profit for the first quarter of 2014 soared to €197m, an increase of 152 per cent year-on-year which has been attributed in part to a concerted effort earlier in the year to make the customer experience a priority.
In March, the notoriously hostile airline embarked on a new customer-centric stratgey. It overhauled the Ryaniar.com site, released a new app and rolled out a pan-European campaign – it's first major marketing push in over 20 years.
At the time, chief executive Michael O'Leary proclaimed "we've changed".
“Yes we have an image that we might be cavalier about our customers, cavalier about our staff, we might be robust in the way that we deal with people who complain, but this thing works," he said.
"Imagine how better it is going to work, how many more people we’re going to carry and how much more money we’re going to make if we actually stop being nasty to people."
Noting the imapct, Ryanair reported that for the three months to June 30, total revenues were up 11 per cent to €1.5bn while the number of passengers choosing to fly with Ryanair grew four per cent to 24.3 million.
Commenting on the results, O’Leary said that the ‘Always Getting Better’ activity had “delivered significant improvement to the customer experience” and since the new app launched 10 days ago it has reached one million downloads.
He continued: “In September we will launch Ryanair’s business service which will include same day flight changes, bigger bag allowances, premium seat allocation, and fast-track through security at many Ryanair airports.
"This new service along with our new routes, improved schedules and wider GDS distribution, will make Ryanair’s low fares much more accessible to, and attractive for business customers.”
O’Leary also vowed to “rapidly develop” both the website and mobile platform to deliver more innovative features and services.
Based on the Q1 results, Ryanair has predicted that full year traffic will grow by five per cent to 86 million. It has also “cautiously” raised its full year profit after tax guidance from the previous range €580m to €620m to a range of €620m to €650m.
Earlier this month, Ryanair’s marketing chief Kenny Jacobs revealed the airline’s plans to launch a second pan-European campaign in September this year. He also outlined the plans for the £10m-a-year Innovation Hub that it created to develop its services and digital offering.
Jacobs is set to discuss the brand's overhauled customer experience strategy at The Drum's Joy of CX event taking place on 16 October. For more information visit the dedicated website.