Ryanair saw fares rise by 1 per cent in the last quarter of 2024 due to “stronger” late bookings for the festive holiday period.
The Ireland-based airline group saw revenue rise by 10 per cent year-on-year to €2.96 billion for the October-December quarter as passenger numbers also jumped by 9 per cent to 44.9 million.
Ryanair added that its total ancillary revenue was also up by 10 per cent to €1.04 billion for Q4 compared to the same period last year, which represented a 1 per cent increase in ancillary revenue per passenger.
The rise in fares in late 2024 comes after Ryanair saw its profit tumble during the key summer July-September period due to lower average fares.
CEO Michael O’Leary said the airline expected to carry almost 200 million passengers during the current financial year, which runs to 31 March, “subject to no further adverse news on Boeing delivery delays”. This would represent a 9 per cent rise in passengers compared with the previous year.
But delays to aircraft deliveries from Boeing has forced Ryanair to trim its estimated passenger numbers during its next financial year from 210 million to 206 million.
O’Leary said the company planned to “reallocate this scarce capacity growth” to regions and airports, such as those in Poland, Sweden and Italy, which have reduced or abolished aviation taxes, as well as “incentivising” traffic growth.
Ryanair’s post-tax profit rose to €134 million for the October-December quarter, up from €15 million during the same quarter last year. But profit for the nine months from April to December was still down by 12 per cent year-on-year to €1.94 billion due to an 8 per cent fall in average airfares over this period.
The airline is also featured in BTN Europe’s The 2025 Hotlist for its attempts to move into the corporate travel market.