Shares in Ryanair opened down 8% in early Monday trading following a profits warning by the airline.
The Irish carrier said full-year profits will be 12% lower than expected, from the initial forecast of €1.25-1.35bn (£1.11-1.2bn) to between €1.1-1.2bn.
Ryanair blamed industrial action as well as higher oil prices, higher costs associated with EU flight compensation rules, and weaker fares brought in as a result of the recent strikes.
It explained forward bookings for the third quarter were down, fuelled by concern among passengers over the likelihood of more industrial action. As a result, fares have been dropped to stimulate interest.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: "Customer confidence, forward bookings and [third quarter] fares have been affected, most notably over the October school mid-terms and Christmas, in those five countries where unnecessary strikes have been repeated."
In a statement announcing the profit warning, Ryanair said it ‘cannot rule out further disruptions in [the third quarter], which may require full-year guidance to be lowered further and may necessitate further trimming of loss-making winter capacity’.
The airline is cutting some routes and closing its Eindhoven base in the Netherlands its Bremen base in Germany as well as making cuts to its Niederrhein base.
