Ryanair has reported a 6% rise in profits to €1.3 billion in its full-year results.
The company says it carried “record traffic” of 120 million passengers, a growth of 13% with a load factor of 94%.
Its net margin was 20% in the last year, with total revenue in the year up to March 31 2017 €6.65 billion.
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said: ““We are pleased to report a 6% increase in profit after tax to €1.316bn, despite difficult trading conditions in the financial year of 2017 caused by a series of security events at European cities, a switch of charter capacity from North Africa, Turkey and Egypt to mainland Europe, and a sharp decline in sterling following the June 2016 Brexit vote.
“We reacted to these challenges by improving our customer experience, and stimulating growth with lower fares.”
In the last year, Ryanair took delivery of 52 new Boeing 737s, launched 206 new routes, and opened 10 new bases at airports in Bucharest, Corfu, Frankfurt Main, Hamburg, Ibiza, Nuremburg, Prague, Sofia, Timisoara and Vilnius. Its fleet is expected to grow to 427 aircraft by March 2018 as it bids to increase traffic to 130 million customers.
This year, Ryanair will expand its Frankfurt Main base, open bases in Memmingen (Munich) and Poznan, Poland, as well as launching its first flights to Tel Aviv and the Ukraine.
O’Leary added: “As competitor airlines undergo deep restructuring, we are aware of the need to have additional short haul aircraft to respond quickly as unique growth opportunities arise.”
As Ryanair continues to promote itself as the “Amazon of Travel”, O’Leary praised the airline’s Always Getting Better customer service initiative.
He added that Ryanair Holidays, its online travel agency, would be expanded into “all markets”.
Membership of the airline’s app, MyRyanair, also rose to more than 20 million in the year up to the end of March.
Ryanair completed €1.02bn in shareholder buybacks in February and has announced that a further €600 million share buyback will start this week.