Ryanair has recorded a pre-tax rise in profits of 24 per cent to €277.8 million for the first quarter of its financial year.
The no-frills airline was boosted by a 16% rise in passenger numbers to 28 million for the three months to the end of June, which helped revenue grow by 10% year-on-year to €1.65 billion.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said that one of the reasons for the increased profit was Ryanair’s Always Getting Better (AGB) programme to improve customer service.
The higher profit came despite Ryanair’s average fares falling by 4 per cent to €45 per person during the three-month period.
O’Leary said this drop in fares was due to “the timing of Easter, weaker April yields and lower checked-bag penetration as more families and business customers enjoy discounts on their luggage or benefit from our free second carry-on bag policy”.
The airline said that it was “continuing apace” with the roll-out of its AGB customer service campaign, which saw Ryanair begin selling flights on Sabre in June - its third GDS partner.
A new “personalised” website is due to be launched in October, while other developments such as new aircraft interiors are also planned.
Ryanair intends to continue increasing passenger numbers with a 15% rise in winter 2015/16 capacity. This will allow the company to target total traffic of up to 103 million passengers for the year ending in March 2016. The airline carried 90.6 million passengers in the 2014/15 financial year.
The airline is predicting that this planned winter capacity growth coupled with lower oil prices “may lead to an aggressive pricing response from competitors who will try to defend their market shares”.
Ryanair is expecting average fares to fall by between 4 and 8 per cent year-on-year during the winter season due to these factors.
Despite these lower ticket prices, Ryanair still expects to make a post-tax profit of between €940 million and €970 million for the current financial year. The airline made a profit of €867million in 2014/15.