No-frills carrier Ryanair took 40 aircraft out of service last winter, and plans to remove a further 40 in the coming winter.
The announcement came as the airline revealed a full-year profit after tax of €401 million, up 26% on the figure for the previous financial year.
Traffic in the financial year between April 2010 and March 2011 grew by 8%, while fares rose 12%.
Despite the positive results, Ryanair said in a statement that higher oil prices and airport costs mean it is “more profitable to tactically ground up to 80 aircraft”.
Ryanair would rather ground the aircraft than “suffer losses operating them to high cost airports at low winter yields”, the carrier added.
Operating costs, including fuel, per passenger flying with the no-frills airline are predicted to rise by 12% in FY 2012, with traffic to grow only 4%.
Between April 2010 and March 2011, Ryanair’s fuel costs increased by 37%.
Mitigating the impact of increased fuel prices, however, was a 21% increase in ancillary sales, which at €802 million accounted for 22% of the airline’s total revenues.