Ryanair pays off final bond of €1.2bn to leave it debt-free

Conor Humphries, Kirsten Donovan - Reuters

Ryanair on Monday said it had repaid its only outstanding bond, leaving it effectively debt-free for the first time since the company was listed in 1997.

The repayment of the €1.2 billion unsecured eurobond from May 2021 leaves Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers with an unencumbered fleet of 620 Boeing 737 aircraft.

That is set to further widen the cost gap with rivals dependent on long-term debt and leasing to finance their aircraft, Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan said in a statement.

“Today is a historic day for Ryanair as our Group, following repayment of our final €1.2bn bond, is now effectively debt free," he said.

"Our fortress balance sheet is underpinned by an unencumbered B737 fleet of 620 aircraft, solid ratings (BBB+) from both Fitch Ratings and S&P and strong liquidity.

"This financial strength further widens the cost gap between Ryanair and our competitors, many of whom are exposed to expensive (long-term) debt and aircraft leases and will enable Ryanair to continue to grow traffic at much lower fares than our competitors, bringing even more value to consumers all over Europe.

"We raised this last remaining €1.2bn bond during the Covid crisis and we wish to sincerely thank our bond holders for their strong support over many years.

"We look forward to (opportunistically) revisiting the bond markets at some stage in the future as we grow passenger traffic to 300m p.a. by FY34 and take up to 50 Boeing MAX-10 deliveries annually from 2029 onward.”