Thriving Ryanair praises regional airport

Ryanair, which only opened its Leeds-Bradford base two months ago, said the airport is bucking the trend among UK airports.

Ryanair's head of communications Stephen McNamara said: "While the UK is struggling, Leeds-Bradford is bucking the trend. We've worked very closely with the airport. Leeds-Bradford is one of the only UK airports that is competing with Europe."

Ryanair opened the new base at Leeds-Bradford base at the end of March with 14 new routes. It already had three routes to Dublin, Barcelona and Alicante.

"The future looks good for Leeds-Bradford," said Mr McNamara. "We hope to have more routes out of the airport by next summer. We already have 17 and are targeting 20 or over 20."

He said the reason the airport is doing so well is that it is reducing costs and getting more passengers through the terminal.

"Leeds-Bradford is one of only a few growth airports in the UK for Ryanair. It's been one of our star performers," he said.

The most popular routes have been to Alicante, Malaga, Ibiza, while Krakow has also proved popular due to the large Polish community in the area and around Manchester.

Other successful routes include Malta, Palma and Majorca.

The news came yesterday as Ryanair swung back into profit as traffic grew despite the recession.

The group has also benefited from lower fuel costs.

The firm made pre-tax profits of 281m for the year to March 31,

against a 150.5m loss a year earlier.

Traffic grew 14 per cent to 67 million passengers while fuel costs fell 29 per cent to 755.5m.

The group expects further double-digit growth in traffic and profit this year – barring any more disruption from Iceland's volcanic ash cloud.

Ryanair said "repeated, unnecessary closures" of European airspace had left it with a bill of around 42.3m so far.

The firm – which lost 1.5 million passengers during the disruption in April and May – also hit out at "unfair and disproportionate" regulations leaving airlines with hefty bills to compensate stranded customers.

Ryanair backed down over initial plans to limit payouts to the cost of ticket prices but warned that passengers "cannot and should not expect to receive unlimited compensation or reimbursements".

The group announced plans to bring forward its first dividend since flotation in 1997 to this October.

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier had previously said it could end its no-dividend policy around 2013.

Ryanair, which has a track record of striking great fleet bargains at the bottom of industry cycles, pulled out of talks with Boeing on an order for 200 aircraft last year after several warnings over its future growth.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the dividend was possible after talks with Boeing ended last December, and there was "nothing else to do" with the surplus cash.

He kept the door ajar for a future deal with Boeing or its rival Airbus and said dividends would not become a regular feature. "Before anybody asks silly questions like what our dividend policy will be going forward, there isn't going to be another one for at least a number of years," he said.

Ryanair expects profits in the coming year to rise by between 10 and 15 per cent excluding costs from disruption caused by the ash cloud that drifted over European airspace.

The airline, with some of the industry's lowest costs, has thrived as weaker carriers struggled in the recession.

However, it said forward bookings for the summer period are "not looking great" and it is not expecting the European economy to return to healthy growth for up to a year.

Company chief to benefit by 16m

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary will pocket over 16m after the airline swung back into profit.

The chief executive, who owns four per cent of shares, will receive the windfall as part of a 422m dividend for shareholders.

Mr O'Leary said the special dividend – the company's first since it listed on the stock market in 1997 – would also mean a combined 8.4m payout for the two per cent of airline staff who own shares.

But Mr O'Leary claimed he would have to pay 10m of his own slice in

tax to the Irish Government.

The payout contrasts with the row over paying dividends or pursuing growth at budget rival EasyJet.