Ryanair reported first quarter profits of €663 million against €170 million in the same period last year affected by the Ukraine war.
Group carryings rose any 11% to 50.4 million in the three months to June 30 thanks to a strong Easter performance and the extra coronation bank holiday in the UK in May.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 damaged last year’s traffic and fares in the equivalent period.
More: Ryanair pledges to invest $3 billion to restart aviation in Ukraine
Revenue increased by 40% year-on-year to €3.65 billion as average fares rose by 42% and ancillaries by 4%.
Group chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “This summer, in anticipation of increased air traffic control disruptions, we invested heavily in operational resilience – increased crew ratios, doubled the size of our Dublin and Warsaw ops centres, enhanced our day-of-travel app. and continuously improving our live customer communications – to ensure that our passengers and crew continue to enjoy Ryanair’s industry leading on time performance and reliability.
“We are operating our largest ever summer schedule – over 3,200 flights and up to 600,000 passengers daily.”
However, he conceded that full financial year projected traffic to growth up 9% to 183.5 million is slower than the 185 million originally expected, due to Boeing delivery delays in spring and autumn 2023.
O’Leary said: “Having enjoyed a bumper Christmas and new year travel period last year, the first festive travel season that wasn’t curtailed by the Covid pandemic, we are conscious that consumers may require some fare stimulation to fill our 25% greater seat capacity this winter compared to pre-Covid following months of rising mortgage rates and consumer price inflation.
“If this transpires, then Ryanair’s load active/yield passive strategy, coupled with our industry leading cost base, will uniquely position our group to capture further market share, albeit at lower fares this winter.”
More: Ryanair pledges to invest $3 billion to restart aviation in Ukraine