Ryanair Holdings was incorporated in 1996 as a holding company for Ryanair Limited. The latter operates an ultra-low cost, scheduled-passenger airline serving short-haul, point-to-point routes between Ireland, the U.K., Continental Europe, and Morocco. Incorporated in 1984, Ryanair Limited began to introduce a lowfares operating model under a new management team in the early 1990s. See ―Item 5. Operating and Financial
Review and Prospect - History.‖ As of June 30, 2012, with its operating fleet of 294 Boeing 737-800 ―next generation‖ aircraft, Ryanair Limited offered over 1,500 scheduled short-haul flights per day serving approximately 160 airports largely throughout Europe. See ― Route System, Scheduling and Fares Route
System and Scheduling‖ for more details of Ryanair‘s route network. See ―Item 5. Operating and Financial
Review and Prospects Seasonal Fluctuations‖ for information about the seasonality of Ryanair‘s business. 56
Ryanair recorded a profit on ordinary activities after taxation of €560.4 million in the 2012 fiscal year, as compared to a profit on ordinary activities after taxation of €374.6 million in the 2011 fiscal year. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in revenues of approximately 21% from €3,629.5 million to
€4,390.2 million, partially offset by an increase in fuel costs of approximately 30% from €1,227.0 million to
€1,593.6 million. Ryanair generated an average booked passenger load factor of approximately 82% and average scheduled passenger revenues of €0.061 per ASM in the 2012 fiscal year. The Company has focused on maintaining low operating costs (€0.052 per ASM in the 2012 fiscal year).
The market‘s acceptance of Ryanair‘s low-fares service is reflected in the ―Ryanair Effect‖ – Ryanair‘s history of stimulating significant annual passenger traffic growth on the new routes on which it has commenced service since 1991. For example, on the basis