Ryanair suffered an annual net loss of €1 billion as the coronavirus pandemic grounded the global aviation sector, the Irish no-frills carrier announced on Monday.

The earnings for 12 months to the end of March compared with profit after tax totalling €649 million in 2019/20.

Stripping out fluctuations to oil and foreign exchange prices, the loss after tax came in at €815 million. Annual revenue meanwhile slumped 81 per cent to €1.64 billion.

Ryanair described the year as “the most challenging” in its 35-year history. Passenger traffic dived 81 per cent to 27.5 million from 149 million.

“As we look beyond the COVID-19 crisis, and the successful completion of vaccination roll outs, the Ryanair Group expects to have a much improved cost base and a very strong balance sheet,” the airline said.“The group expects to benefit from a strong rebound of pent-up travel demand through the second half of 2021, and looks forward to returning to pre-COVID growth in summer 2022.”

Ryanair expects traffic for its current year to be towards the lower end of a previously-forecast 80 million-120 million passenger range.

Ryanair expects traffic for its current year to be towards the lower end of a previously-forecast 80m-120m passenger range

The virus outbreak has ravaged the global aviation sector, sparking heavy losses, job cuts, bankruptcies and state rescue plans.

Ryanair had decided to cut 3,000 pilot and cabin crew jobs, or 15 per cent of staff, mirroring moves by airlines globally to save cash in the face of collapsing demand.