Ryanair’s quarterly profit slumped by 80 per cent due to an “exceptional charge” related to the €256 million fine levied on the airline group by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) for alleged “abuse” of its dominant market position.
The Ireland-based company was handed the fine by the AGCM in late 2025 after a two-year investigation, but Ryanair continues to call the AGCM’s charges “baseless” and added its lawyers are “confident” that the decision will be overturned on appeal.
Ryanair said that, pending this appeal, it had made provision for an €85 million exceptional charge in its accounts to cover around one-third of the AGCM’s fine.
This meant that the company only made a net profit of €30 million for the quarter ending on 31 December, which was down from a profit of €149 million in the same quarter in 2024. Excluding the exceptional charge, Ryanair would have made a net profit of €115 million for the quarter, down by 22 per cent year-on-year with operating expenses rising by 6 per cent.
More positively for Ryanair, it recorded a 6 per cent year-on-year rise in passengers, which increased to 47.5 million during the quarter, while average fares also went up 4 per cent to €44 and ancillary revenue rose by 1 per cent per passenger. Total revenue for the group rose by 9 per cent to €3.21 billion over the same period.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, said that “strong demand” and earlier than expected deliveries of new Boeing aircraft meant that it was now forecast to carry 208 million passengers for the financial year ending on 31 March. This would represent growth of 4 per cent year-on-year and is ahead of a previous estimate of 207 million passengers.
O’Leary added that fares are “trending ahead of prior year” and are expected to be around 8 to 9 per cent higher during the current financial year, which is an increase on previous guidance.
“This winter, we’ve allocated Ryanair’s scarce capacity to regions and airports cutting aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth, such as Albania, Italy, Morocco, Slovakia and Sweden, by switching flights and routes away from high cost, uncompetitive markets like Austria, Belgium, Germany and regional Spain,” said O’Leary.
“This trend continues into summer 2026, with over 106 new routes on sale, including three new bases in Rabat, Tirana and Trapani.”