Ryanair profits up 15%

Ryanair has announced record half-year profits of €201.3m. Traffic grew by 24% to 14.1m passengers, the company said today, while yields declined by 5%. Total revenues rose by 21% to €721.1m.

However, the airline said high fuel costs would affect its future profits guidance.

Unit costs (excluding fuel and route charges) fell by 4% (including fuel and route charges unit costs that remained flat) and as a result the profit margin after tax declined by 1% to 28%.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said: "This is Ryanair’s 30th consecutive quarter of unbroken profitability (before exceptionals) since we floated in May 1997."

He said that one of the main factors in the profits was the airline's route growth, with two new bases in Barcelona and Rome and 41 other new routes launched this summer. This winter, Ryanair will add two more aircraft to its Rome and Milan bases. The Frankfurt, Stockholm and Glasgow bases will also have one additional plane each, and the London Luton base rises from one 737-200 to four 737-800’s.

This winter will also see Ryanair open five new destinations to Riga (Latvia), Santander, Seville and Valencia (Spain) and Porto (Portugal).

“Despite intense price competition and our own considerable growth, the yield decline of 5% for the half year was at the better end of our -5% to -10% guidance. We attribute this to a combination of slightly better peak summer yields and the initial impact of the multiple fuel surcharges imposed by many of our high fare competitors which has increased the price differential," O'Leary added.

He added that Ryanair remained "cautious" in the outlook for the rest of the year, but said there were some encouraging indicators.

"We expect to achieve significant increases in passenger volume growth this fiscal year and increased load factors. We anticipate that yield attrition in Q3 and Q4 will now be better than our original -10% to -20% forecast and based on current financial booking trends should finish in the -5% to -10% range. This will help to partially offset higher fuel prices for the second half."