Questions to Michael O'Leary and his answers during the press conference:
Terror alert in Belgium, and especially in Brussels: in response Ryanair lowered its fares and as a result the load factors remained high.
Hedging of oil: this was done because Ryanair doesn't want uncertainty about oil prices. Therefore the oil prices for Ryanair might have been higher than the market prices ($92 per barrel 18 months ago, later $62 per barrel and now $42). But the lower oil prices have been passed on to the customers in lower fares.
Airlines for Europe (A4E): Before coming to the press conference, MOL was at the European Parliament to defend the goals of A4E: lower airport taxes (airline fares have decreased by 20% in 5 years, whereas airport taxes increased by 50%), fight against ATC strikes, single European sky (A4E wants action this year on both issues, the European Commission should take the lead but doesn't propose anything), roll-back of national taxes on airline tickets (Italy, Norway, ...).
A4E is inviting all airlines to join and it is expected that the other associations will dissolve in short time (early summer): easyJet leaves ELFAA, Lufthansa leaves AEA... Invitations have been sent last week!
Amsterdam Schiphol: Ryanair has 16 weekly slots. It is difficult to get more, because the authorities are favouring KLM, which always gets a first choice for available slots.
Business passengers: MOL estimates the number of business passengers at 25-27%, but only 2% select the business package with reserved seats in the front, checked baggage, flexibility, etc. Ryanair wants to increase this number to 10% with a new advertising campaign.
Wizz Air competition: I relayed
Inquirer's question about Wizz Air vowing to have lower costs than Ryanair by the end of the year and the risk that it means for the lower end of the customer base of Ryanair. MOL said that he likes the CEO of Wizz Air, who often tells good jokes. MOL considers this claim as a good joke. Currently the average fare of Ryanair (€47) is 28% lower than the one of Wizz Air (€60), and the costs of Ryanair continue to decrease (fuel, airport taxes, new efficient planes), which means that the gap with Wizz Air will increase, not decrease!
Switzerland: Ryanair flies only to Basel, because Swiss airport taxes are very high (~€40) and Ryanair preferes to concentrate on countries and airports where taxes are lower.
North Africa: no plans to fly to Egypt or Tunisia. Load factor to Morocco is decreasing: people prefer European destinations in the Mediterranean. Ryanair however does fly to Eilat in Israel.