Budget airline Ryanair saw profits rise 152% in the first quarter of 2014.
The airline said its net profits reached €197 million for the quarter to June 30, up from €78m last year for the same period, but warned the results of the first quarter were distorted because of strong performance at Easter which fell earlier in the calendar this year.
Due to its performance in quarter one, the carrier raised its full-year profit guidance to from €620m-€650m, up from €580m-€620m – a figure given out in May.
The carrier said it expects to grow passenger numbers by 5% to 86 million in the financial year that ends March 31, but cautioned that is has “zero visibility” for the second half of the financial year.
Traffic grew to 24.3m by the end of quarter one, compared to 23.2m in the same period last year, while the average fare increased by 9%, with Ryanair attributing that to a strong Easter period.
Michael O’Leary, chief executive, said: “The earlier launch of our summer schedule and actively raising our forward bookings has delivered a 4% increase in load factor to 86% and enabled us to better manage close-in yields.
“Ancillary revenues rose 4% in line with traffic growth, as airport and baggage fee reductions were offset by the rising uptake of allocated seating.”
He said the airline’s four new routes and bases in Athens, Brussels, Lisbon and Rome were performing strongly.
The carrier is set to open four new bases in Cologne, Gdansk, Warsaw and Glasgow this winter, as well as increase the frequency of routes and introduce new routes at Stansted and Dublin.
Ryanair’s new app was launched this month and reached 1 million downloads in 10 days.
The airline plans to launch a business service in September which will include same-day flight changes, bigger bag allowances, premium seat allocation and fast track.