Ryanair has today posted a 34% year-on-year increase in profit to a record €1.92 billion, which was slightly ahead of forecasts.
The airline expressed “cautious optimism” that summer fares would remain steady at, if not slightly ahead of, where they were last year.
Ryanair had forecast its post-tax profit as somewhere in the range of €1.85 billion and €1.95 billion, which represented a lowered estimate as a result of some online travel agents deciding to stop selling its flights abruptly.
Ryanair said that it was too early to be able to provide accurate after-tax profit guidance for the current financial year.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said two weeks ago that summer fares would likely be lower than expected, with the airline saying that its weaker forecast was “heavily dependent” on last-minute bookings.
“The final outcome for FY25 will be heavily dependent upon avoiding adverse events during FY25 (such as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, extensive ATC disruptions or further Boeing delivery delays),” Mr O’Leary added.
Ryanair said it would be 23 aircraft short of the number Boeing was due to deliver by the end of July and that there remained the risk that deliveries could further slip.
Mr O’Leary said that Ryanair will receive “modest” compensation from Boeing for the delays but added that the confidential amount does not reflect the extent of losses suffered from having to recently cut its forecast traffic growth for the year to end-March 2025 to 198 to 200 million passengers from 205 million.
Ryanair, which is Europe’s largest carrier by passenger numbers, flew a record 184 million passengers in the financial year ended March 31.
Travel demand in Europe is strong for the summer months, Mr O’Leary said, with Ryanair set to operate its largest summer schedule ever with over 200 new routes and five new bases.