Ryanair trims annual profit forecast after travel agents halt sales

Net profit for the three months to the end of December, the third quarter of its financial year, was €15m, significantly lower than the €49m expected by analysts

Traffic in the third quarter was up 7% to 41.4 million passengers, while average fares were 13% higher than last year,

Ryanair trimmed its profit forecast for the year to the end of March after some online travel agents suddenly stopped selling its flights in December, forcing it to cut fares to fill seats as costs per passenger inched up.

Ryanair had for years accused the websites of adding illegitimate extra charges and launched a series of court cases against them, but appeared to be taken by surprise when they stopped selling the airline's tickets.