2_800x533_L_1412520354.jpg)
By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair (I:RYA) is flying at least six more passengers per flight this year than in 2013, thanks to improvements in customer service and the way it sells tickets, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday.
The Irish airline, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, expects load factors to increase 3-4 percentage points to "close to 86 percent" of available seats this year, Howard Millar told reporters in Dublin.
An increase of 3-4 percentage points on Ryanair's fleet of Boeing 737s, which fly 189 passengers each, would represent between six and seven more passengers per flight.
But Millar said higher ticket sales would be partially offset by lower fares thanks to increased capacity this winter.
Senior executives were speaking to reporters after the first delivery of an order of up to 380 Boeing jets over the next decade that could lift the airline's passengers from 82 million a year to 150 million.
Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told the briefing that as the new capacity comes on line, fares were likely to fall by about 20 percent over the next five years, after adjusting for inflation, and by up to 40 percent by 2024.
Forward bookings in each month between September and January rose 4-5 percentage points after the airline began to sell tickets a year in advance late last year, instead of nine months, he said.
Ryanair said in July it expected profit after tax for the year to March 2015 of 620-650 million euros.
Ryanair plans to pursue a takeover of Cyprus Air, with the aim of setting up hub to serve the Middle East. But O'Leary said he thought Greek rival Aegean (AT:AGNr) was more likely to succeed in its bid to use the airline to feed traffic to Athens.
"On balance it's more likely to go to Greece, but we'll make it difficult for them by offering very rapid growth," he said.
Ryanair has completed all the paperwork required to start its first routes to Russia, with proposed flights from Dublin to Moscow and St. Petersburg, O'Leary said.
But he said the project was on hold because Ireland's tourist board has refused to contribute to the marketing budget on what would likely be a loss-making route for the first three years. If an agreement can be reached, flights could begin in the summer of 2015 at the earliest, he said.
(Editing by David Clarke)