Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Ryanair H1 Results Presentation. I'm Michael O'Leary, the Group CEO, and with me is Neil Sorahan, our Group CFO. As reported this morning on our website, we've recorded a H1 loss of €48 million, a significant improvement from the previous year's loss of €411 million. In the first half of this year, we've experienced a strong rebound in traffic, increasing by 128% from 17.1 million last year to 39.1 million this half year. We have received the first of our 737 Gamechanger aircraft and ended the half year with a robust cash balance of €4.24 billion, up from €3.15 billion in March, reflecting the strong recovery in bookings and cash flows. Our net debt has decreased from €2.28 billion at the end of March to €1.5 billion at the end of September. We have launched over 560 new routes and announced 14 new bases for this and next summer as we aim for a strong recovery from the pandemic. Our recent AGM outlined an ambitious five-year growth strategy that targets increased traffic from 200 million to 225 million by the financial year ending March 2026. A central part of this strategy is our commitment to the environment. Each passenger flying with Ryanair instead of legacy airlines can reduce their CO2 emissions by up to 50% per flight. We're also expanding our fleet with the new Boeing 737 Gamechanger aircraft, which offer 4% more seats while reducing fuel consumption by 16% and cutting noise emissions by 40%. Our efforts to maximize the use of sustainable aviation fuel continue, and we're actively advocating for the reform of the single European Sky to reduce air traffic control delays, which would lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for all airlines in Europe. Our goal is to improve our climate rating from a B- to an A over the next two years. We're collaborating with Trinity College in Dublin to establish a Sustainable Aviation Research Center, aiming for a 30% increase in sustainable aviation fuel production and availability, with a target of using about 12.5% of sustainable aviation fuels. This forms part of our goal to decrease CO2 per passenger to just 60 grams per passenger kilometer by 2030. Regarding COVID-19, while it significantly affected our operations in the first quarter, we have seen a strong recovery in the second quarter, aided by the EU digital travel certificates introduced on July 1. We carried 5 million passengers in June, and that number more than doubled to over 10 million in August. H1 bookings have largely been constrained and required ongoing price stimulation. Recently, however, we have seen a surge in bookings and better yields for the October school break and the upcoming Christmas period, with expectations that this demand will continue into Easter and summer 2022. We remain focused on increasing load factors while being passive on yield. We have already achieved load factors above 80% for the past few months and anticipate exceeding 90% during summer 2022. However, during off-peak periods in November and early February, yields may be challenging, prompting us to engage in price discounting to encourage travel and rebuild confidence in intra-EU air travel. Ryanair was among the few airlines to take advantage of the COVID-19 crisis by placing a significant aircraft order in December 2020, increasing our order of Gamechanger aircraft from 135 to 210. Over the past 18 months, we've expanded our airport partnerships to secure lower operating costs, allowing us to offer lower fares to customers post-COVID. We're leading the recovery of air traffic in Europe and plan to significantly grow both passenger numbers and jobs in the next five years. This would not be possible without our robust balance sheet, which is industry-leading. We maintain a BBB credit rating from both Standard & Poor's and Fitch. As of the end of the half year, we had €4.2 billion in cash, and nearly 90% of our fleet is unencumbered. In May, we issued a new €1.25 billion five-year unsecured bond at a record low coupon of just under 0.9%. In June, we repaid an €850 million maturing bond, and last week we repaid our UK CCF loan of £600 million five months early since we don't need the funds and bookings and cash flows have significantly recovered. The strength of Ryanair’s balance sheet positions us well to seize growth opportunities as the market rebounds from the pandemic. However, we anticipate incurring losses this year, expecting a small loss for the year ending March 31, 2022, while leading a strong recovery in short-haul European air travel in summer 2022. On the outlook for winter pricing and yields for FY '22, we expect challenges, as the booking trend remains close in, and traffic recovery will necessitate ongoing price stimulation. Coupled with rising costs for a small portion of our unhedged fuel, visibility for earnings throughout the remainder of FY '22 is limited. We cannot provide meaningful guidance at this stage, but we believe traffic will improve to just above our current estimate of 90 million to 100 million passengers. If we continue to recover at our current pace and there are no adverse COVID developments this winter, we might exceed 100 million passengers. However, we expect a full-year loss between €100 million and €200 million, depending on winter fares and the continued rollout of vaccines across Europe without setbacks related to COVID-19. On our overall strategy, assuming no adverse COVID developments this winter, we expect to take delivery of 65 Gamechangers from Boeing before peak summer 2022, allowing us to accelerate our growth post-COVID-19. These aircraft are designed for the lowest costs, reduced emissions, and exceptional fuel efficiency, enabling us to capitalize on growth opportunities at both primary and secondary airports across Europe. As highlighted in our recent AGM, we are pursuing a much more aggressive growth trajectory for the next five years, aiming to increase from 149 million passengers pre-COVID to 225 million by FY '26, representing a remarkable 50% growth for Europe's largest airline during that period. We sincerely hope that you, as shareholders, will join us on this journey over the next five years, as we anticipate not only a recovery in traffic but also improvements in profitability and our share price. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. I'll just quickly run through the presentation and hand over to you for current developments. So Ryanair has the lowest fares and lowest costs of any airline in Europe. We're number one for traffic, as Michael just said, hopefully, somewhere just above 100 million this year, and number one for customer service and on-time performance. When it comes to the climate, we've got an industry-leading B- rating from CDP, and our balance sheet has a strong investment-grade rating of BBB. So this financial strength and our lowest costs make us the long-term winner. We're starting to put down the platform for growth for the next five years. We've got 89 bases, 14 of which were announced this year, and we'll roll into next summer as well. We've launched over 560 new routes. So, I think we're well-placed with the new Gamechanger aircraft to achieve 225 million guests by FY '26. We commenced the COVID with the lowest cost per passenger ex-fuel of any airline. And by the time we've taken delivery of our aircraft, we will be significantly ahead of everybody else in the sector. On the half itself, we saw a significant recovery, particularly in Q2 on traffic following the release of the EU digital COVID certificates in July, so traffic up 128% to 39 million guests at a load factor of 79%. Revenue jumped 83% to just under €2.2 billion. However, costs remain in good shape, up 60% to €2.2 billion. So as a result, we saw a very good improvement in the year from the same half last year where we recorded a loss of €48 million, down from €411 million last year. Our balance sheet remains extremely strong, as I said, BBB rated by both Fitch and S&P, very strong cash balances of €4.24 billion at the end of the half. 90% of the fleet unencumbered and net debt at €1.5 billion, so this enabled us, thanks to the strong cash flows in the business, as Michael said, to repay £600 million to the UK CCFF last week, five months ahead of target. Michael, I might ask you to run through current developments, please.

Thank you, Neil. As I mentioned earlier, we've experienced a robust recovery heading into the winter of 2021, significantly outperforming other European scheduled airlines. Last week, we had excellent bookings for the October school midterm break, and we anticipate similar results during Christmas. We are proud to maintain our top environmental and social governance standards, and it’s encouraging that customers switching to us have reduced their CO2 emissions by 50% compared to Europe's flag carrier airlines. Regarding our traffic outlook, we're projecting over 100 million passengers for the full year. Our cost leadership has improved due to lower financing, airport, and aircraft costs, and management and staff have agreed to salary cuts for the next year, which will be restored in the following years. We are 80% hedged for fuel in the fourth quarter of FY '22, and we have also mitigated fuel risks for 80% in the first half of 2023, with a mix of swaps and caps. We're expecting 65 new Gamechangers for summer 2022 from our total order of 210, allowing us to accelerate our growth targets to 225 million guests by FY '26. Focusing briefly on traffic recovery, we are maintaining an active load factor with yields being passive. Our load factor has exceeded 80% in recent months, with expectations to reach nearly 84% for October, with further figures to be released later today. With most of our UK and EU population vaccinated, we believe this will significantly reduce the risk of disruptions during winter. Throughout COVID, we've worked diligently to keep our aircraft, pilots, and cabin crew current, enabling a swift recovery in our schedules and route network. Our October and Christmas bookings are strong, and we are raising our FY '22 traffic target beyond our previous range of 90 to 100 million. To give perspective on Ryanair's swift recovery, Eurocontrol's published figures for September show our flight volumes down only 9% compared to September 2019, while most other European airlines are down about 40%. Alitalia, for instance, reported a 67% decline in September, contributing to our growth in the Italian market. We have capitalized on the pandemic to strengthen our cost leadership against other EU airlines, negotiating agreed salary reductions with our piloting and cabin crew teams that will begin to be restored over the next few years. We're still in negotiations for recovery incentives with European airports and working with our partners to enhance our efficiency and cost savings. While route charges might rise in the next couple of years due to price gouging by European ANSPs, the new orders of Gamechanger aircraft will greatly reduce our aircraft costs for the coming decade, offering 4% more seats and 16% lower fuel consumption. We're benefiting from better lease and maintenance agreements and a BBB rating that allows us access to cheaper finance, having recently replaced an older bond with one at a lower interest rate. Additionally, we're reducing marketing expenses and integrating technology in-house for efficiency, which will further lower costs. The Gamechangers will significantly cut down our fuel burn over the next 5 to 10 years. Our only recent challenge concerning aircraft was Boeing's price increase for a MAX 10 order, which led us to step away from negotiations. Other airlines in Europe, such as Jet2 and IAG, have also turned to Airbus. While we have sufficient aircraft for the next four years, we'll wait for more competitive pricing from Boeing before making additional orders. Growth will ramp up to 225 million guests, particularly due to the considerable shrinkage or failure of competitors. We've seen the closures of several airlines including Thomas Cook and Alitalia, which has reduced their fleet size significantly. Norwegian reduced their fleet from 120 to around 25 or 30 aircraft. This opens substantial growth opportunities for us to fill the gaps left by these airlines, with airports acknowledging Ryanair as a key player for fast recovery. We have recently announced 14 new bases for 2021 and over 560 new post-COVID routes, focusing more on growth at existing bases than new ones. For example, we’re placing new aircraft in Vienna, Stansted, and across Italy to ensure competitive pricing continues in those markets. We're optimistic about Ukraine joining the EU Open Skies next year, further expanding our opportunities. Despite the exciting prospects, we still project a modest loss for the full year, between €100 million and €200 million, contingent on COVID developments and yield performance. However, we are confident in a strong recovery while maintaining low fares, especially leading into Christmas and Easter, setting the stage for an increase to 225 million guests by FY 2026. We are utilizing our solid financial position to invest in fleet and market share growth. On the topic of fuel hedging, while prices have risen recently, we remain cautious, choosing not to hedge excessively due to potential adverse COVID developments. Our strategy includes a combination of fuel swaps and caps, ensuring we secure our fuel needs without overcommitting. We're currently 50% hedged for the second half of FY '22 at approximately $58 a barrel and have similar hedging in place for the first half of FY '23. This strategy allows us to take prudent steps while avoiding the pitfalls we've encountered in the past. Now, Neil and I are ready to take your questions.

Michael, Neil, good morning. Can we begin by discussing Ryanair's ESG strategy? Any update on your environmental actions?

Sure. Passengers switching to Ryanair from legacy airlines in Europe are already cutting their carbon emissions by 50%. More importantly, we are investing over $20 billion in a new fleet of Boeing 737 Gamechanger aircraft, which allow us to transport 4% more passengers with a 16% reduction in fuel consumption and a 40% decrease in noise emissions. We have set ambitious environmental goals for the next five years, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer by 10% by 2030 and to become carbon-neutral by 2050. We plan to power 12.5% of our flights with sustainable aviation fuels by 2030. We are also committed to improving our climate disclosure project rating from B- to A over the next two years. Additionally, we are co-funding a Sustainable Aviation Research Center partnership with Trinity College Dublin to help accelerate both the research and production of sustainable aviation fuels at our airports in the next five years.

What are your training and job creation plans for the next five years?

Well, thanks to the growth in the business with the 210 aircraft coming in, we'd expect to have 5,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew, engineers, not just about the job, the training is equally important. So we've just invested £50 million in the new high skills, training simulator center here in Dublin. And I would anticipate that we'll probably roll out about two more of those over the next five years as we take more simulators into Ryanair. At the moment, we're looking at places like Spain and Poland.

What are the latest updates from your customer improvements?

Yes. Well, again, I think one of the significant developments was the first meeting of the customer advisory panel here in Dublin in September. It was a two-day workshop with Ryanair customers. Very interesting feedback and we've used that feedback to tailor our customer experience improvement program for 2022. We've implemented almost all of their suggestions, particularly as they relate to customer information, day of travel assistance and speeding up the rate and pace at which refunds are processed, which was obviously a bugbear for most customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now let's turn to our H1 results. You reported a €48 million loss. Why?

Well, you recall, we recorded a loss of €273 million in the first quarter. That was offset by a €225 million profit in the second quarter. Now Q1 was badly impacted by the effect of Easter traffic with ground restrictions being rolled out into May and June. But we saw a bounce in traffic as the COVID Digital Certificates were rolled out on the 1st of July. And as a result, traffic in the first half was over 120%, that's 39 million customers. Now bookings were relatively close in, so they required a fair bit of stimulation. And as a result, fares were down about 30%. But we had a strong performance in ancillaries that helped to offset that where we generated about €22.50 per passenger in ancillary revenue.

And what was driving that €22.50?

Again, it continues to be a very strong conversion on priority boarding and reserved seat sales. And there is certainly a growing income stream now coming from the sale of duty-free products, mainly alcohol and cigarettes on flights to and from the UK, which has now exited the EU, and we've seen the return of duty-free in that marketplace.

Any update on your fuel and carbon credit hedge?

Yes, we're relatively well hedged on fuel for this year. We've got about 70% of our requirements into the second half of FY '22 hedged through a combination of swaps and caps. When we look into next year, we're 80% hedged in the first half and about 60% hedged in the second half of FY '23. And then, of course, carbon becoming a bigger issue, we're in a particularly good place there, where we've got all of our EUAs hedged at about €24 in EUA for this year, about 65% next year at just under 40%, which compares very well to €60 in EUA in the market at the moment.

And have you changed your hedging policy?

We have slightly – well, one on the learnings from COVID, we don't want to buy forward up to 90% of our needs on a rolling 12-month basis, in case there are further COVID disruptions or flight cancellations. We don't expect them, but we have to be cautious. So what we've done, we've hedged up to 60% basically over the next 12 to 18 months within plain fuel swaps. The average price of those swaps is around $60 a barrel. And then to take away or eliminate more of that risk, we've added about 20% of caps, priced at just around $70, just low $70, $71, $72 a barrel, which means we have about 80% of coverage, but we're only committed to 60% of that forward fuel. And so, with spot prices currently up at around $85, $86 a barrel, we're very well insulated, certainly for the next 12 to 18 months. And the market is still in significant backwardation, where the market doesn't expect the recent short-term spike in prices to be maintained, and we hope it won't be either.

You recently accelerated your post-COVID growth projections. Why?

There's a lot of opportunities in the market at the moment. We've seen huge capacity come out of the market, some of them pre-COVID but a lot of it over the last 18 months. We expect more capacity to disappear from the market over the coming months. At the same time, airports are hungry for traffic restoration and growth. We're seeing governments in the likes of Ireland, Italy, Spain, Morocco and others trying to stimulate tourism and economies. And we've already this year launched 14 new bases and 560 new routes. So I think we're in a very strong position to now grow by about 50% from pre-COVID levels to 225 million guests by FY '26, which is ahead of the 33% growth to €200 million that we previously targeted.

And shifting the focus more short-term, Michael, what does the booking curve look like?

Well, I mean, the booking curve is closer in. Forward bookings were obviously significantly damaged by COVID. People didn't have the confidence to book 6, 9, or 12 months out. We are seeing that beginning to recover fully. Now forward bookings in the summer of 2022 now are running close to where they were at this time in 2019 or summer of 2020. But within that, then, very strong forward bookings for peak periods, the October school midterm break, Christmas, Easter, all look very strong. But the rest of November, early December, the back end of January, early February are weak and will require further price stimulation. So the running to summer '22 is all about restoring our load factors. We've demonstrated an ability to recover that in recent months. We've run at over 80% load factor consistently from July onwards. We expect over the winter to see load factors continue to rise up towards 90%. But from summer 2022 onwards, we expect to be back at pre-COVID load factors, low 90% and hopefully back at pre-COVID yields, if not better. All as part of a five-year accelerated growth plan to take us to 225 million passengers by FY 2026.

How has Ryanair widened its cost advantage over the last 18 months?

Well, we've been extremely busy over the past 18 months, as you just said there. I suppose one of the key standouts is the increase in the Gamechanger order from 135 firms to 210 aircraft last December at modest price reductions on top of what we'd already negotiated. Now these aircraft are 16% more fuel efficient, 40% less noise, and have 4% more seats. And so, I believe the gap between us and all competitors is going to widen significantly for the next decade. On the staff side of things, the negotiations saw modest pay reductions last year, but we'll see pay restoration over years three to five of multiyear agreements. As we've already discussed, airports are very keen to get traffic restoration and growth deals, we've extended a number of our long-term growth-based deals at Stansted, Bergamo, and more recently in East Midlands and Manchester, and that's on top of the 14 new bases that we've launched this year, 560 new routes. On financing, debt has never been cheaper, which was evidenced by our €1.2 billion bond raised last May at 0.875%. And we have lots of other things going on in the business at the moment.

Do you see any cost headwinds in the current inflationary environment?

Certainly, route charges and air traffic control charges are expected to increase because these government-owned entities can pass their losses onto their customers. As an industry, we are likely to face rising air traffic control charges next year. Fuel costs are also going up, but we are very well hedged, likely better than most other airlines in Europe. It's clear that the industry is facing higher environmental costs in the future. However, these challenges will not diminish the cost advantage Ryanair has over all other EU airlines. Thus, even though the overall cost of flying in Europe is expected to rise in the coming years, this emphasizes the strong growth potential for Ryanair, especially with the new Gamechanger aircraft. With rising fuel costs and environmental charges, we will be less impacted than any other airline due to the exceptional environmental performance of this new technology.

Shifting focus to the fleet, how many Gamechanger aircraft will be delivered this year?

We'll have just over 65 Gamechangers in the fleet for next summer.

And how is the aircraft performing to date?

It's performed exceptionally well. Our load factors are slightly lower, ranging from 81% to 82%, but we're seeing over 16% improvement in fuel performance. Noise emissions are just over 40% as promised. More importantly, we've received universal approval from both passengers and crew. We offered passengers on the Gamechangers the option to switch flights if they were uneasy about traveling on a MAX, yet not a single passenger has chosen to leave the aircraft. They appreciate the quieter flight experience, and our pilots and cabin crew have praised its performance, providing very positive feedback. Everyone is excited about flying on the new aircraft.

What are the group's fleet plans?

In the short term, we've recently agreed to dispose of 10 of the oldest NGs from the fleet. Two of those were delivered in September, and the remaining eight will exit the fleet between now and the summer of next year. We have no immediate plans, no plans to sell any more NGs at this point in time. We've got 29 A320s in the fleet, the first of which is penciling to go back to lessors in the winter of next year. But with 210 Gamechangers that we bring over the next few years, and with the capacity that we already have, we're fairly comfortable that we'll have about 620 aircraft in fleet, delivering 225 million guests by FY '26.

Why did negotiations with Boeing on a MAX 10 order terminate?

It was very simple. Boeing, out of the blue, sought a significant substantial double-digit price increase. I don't understand the strategy. We think Boeing's approach to this is delusional. We're the only significant customer Boeing has in Europe. Norwegian has canceled almost all their aircraft orders. JetBlue has switched from being a Boeing customer to now an Airbus customer, and even IAG, which had signed up an MOU for a significant number of MAX aircraft, has now invited Boeing or Airbus into tender for those aircraft. Boeing is losing customers all over the place. And the one large customer they have outside of North America, Ryanair, was very close, I think, in active negotiations for a follow-on order for MAX 10. But Boeing walked away from the discussions because they're looking for a price increase at a time when prices should be falling if one is going to recover its production.

How are the Ryanair Group Airlines developing?

They're performing very well. They ramped up their operations over the summer, delighted to get back to some form of normal flying. They continue to be very focused on their cost base and cash preservation. But more importantly, they're now integrating the Gamechanger aircraft into the fleet. Our Polish airline now has almost 60 Boeing 737s in their fleet. Malta Air just upgraded at 130, and now continues to operate its fleet of A320s.

Let's turn to your balance sheet. How is your cash position?

Our cash position has strengthened dramatically in recent months as bookings have recovered. And as you know, at the end of September, we had over €4.2 billion in cash balances at the half-year end. We have a very solid BBB credit rating. 90% of our 737 fleet is unencumbered, and we have seen a dramatic reduction in net debt, down by almost €800 million over the six months since the 31st of March to the 30th of September, where now net debt stands at €1.5 billion, thanks to that very strong cash flow. And that's enabled us in the last week to repay the UK CCFF loan of £600 million, five months early. We're very grateful to the UK government for those loans, but it's clear that as our balance sheet recovers, we don't need that loan funding anymore, and we're very proud to be one of the first airlines to repay the CCF debt early.

What is your CapEx guidance for FY '22 and FY '23?

We have about 65 aircraft delivering this year before the summer of next year, so CapEx will be somewhere in the region of about €1.2 billion, including maintenance CapEx for the current financial year. Next year, we peak CapEx year. We expect it to rise to about €2.3 billion. And then thereafter, we will start to see it come back down again.

And how do you finance the A200 order?

I think most of it, as it has been in the past, will be funded from internally generated cash flows, but we will use our strong balance sheet. We'll use our strong credit rating to be opportunistic about raising either bond finance, doing a mix of sale and leasebacks or delcos. And all the time, the focus will be on how do we arrange the lowest cost financing for this CapEx over the next four or five years where many of our competitors already are engaged in sale and leaseback of their aircraft, which significantly increases financing and aircraft costs.

Shifting focus slightly, why are you considering delisting from the LSE?

Well, like a lot of Irish corporates, we've noticed trading on the London line has decreased significantly in the past number of months. But I think in our case, it's probably been accentuated by the fact that from the 1st of January post-Brexit, UK shareholders are now deemed to be non-EU and are no longer allowed to purchase Ryanair's ordinary shares. So the Board feels it's timely to take a look at whether we get benefit from having a London listing. We already have a primary listing here in Dublin on Euronext, which has the highest levels of corporate governance. And we're quotas, our radios, are quoted on the NASDAQ in New York.

And finally, Michael, let's close the Q&A by discussing the group's outlook for FY '22.

Yes, the remainder of this fiscal year is going to be challenging. The winter will be tough. We're hoping that the high level of vaccinations across Europe will minimize any COVID disruptions. However, outside of the peak periods like the October midterm break, Christmas, and February midterm break, we will need to be very active with load factors and take a passive approach to yield in order to maintain 80% load factors and transport over 10 million passengers each month. I'm confident we can achieve this, which is why we are raising our full-year traffic guidance to just above 100 million passengers. This positions us well for a strong recovery in traffic, load factors, and yields in the summer of 2022. Still, given the limited pricing visibility for the rest of this year, it makes sense to guide the market towards a small loss in the range of €100 million to €200 million. This would represent a significant improvement compared to last year's loss of €850 million. Clearly, we are on a path to return to profitability, but that won't happen until the summer of 2022, which will be in fiscal year '23.