Budget airline group Ryanair saw its quarterly earnings plunge by 34 per cent as it was forced to drop prices to “stimulate” demand and faced a higher fuel bill amid the ongoing Middle East crisis.
The Ireland-based company achieved post-tax earnings of €538 million for the quarter up to 30 June – down from €820 million for the same period in 2025.
Ryanair said that average fares were down by 6 per cent year-on-year to €47.50 per passenger for the quarter, with ancillary revenue flat at €24 per passenger over the same period.
In its earnings statement, Ryanair said that bookings in the quarter “required stimulation as the Middle East conflict led to consumer hesitancy, concerns about EU jet-fuel shortages, economic uncertainty and later bookings”. Although the earlier timing of Easter in 2026 also had some impact on demand for the quarter.
Despite these factors, Ryanair’s revenue rose by 1 per cent year-on-year to €4.38 billion as passenger numbers increased by 6 per cent to 61.3 million.
But the group’s operating costs went up by 11 per cent year-on-year to €3.81 billion due to the impact of higher fuel costs — Ryanair has hedged 80 per cent of its fuel requirements for the current financial year at US$67 per barrel, but prices for the other 20 per cent more than doubled during the quarter to US$150 per barrel compared to the same period in 2025.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said demand for the current summer period was “strong” but bookings were being made later than in previous years leading to less “visibility”.
“Despite a recent slight uptick in volumes and less price stimulation, Q2 (July-September) pricing is trending modestly down year-on-year and the final half-year fare outcome is heavily dependent on the strength of close-in bookings in August and September,” added O’Leary.
Ryanair said that it remains “on track” to increase passenger numbers by 4 per cent in the current financial year, running to 31 March 2027, which would take traffic up to 216 million passengers.
But the company added that its earnings for the full 2026-27 year remained “highly sensitive to adverse external developments”, including the Iran and Ukraine wars, as well as the price of jet fuel and macroeconomic “shocks”.