Ryanair delivers profits upgrade

By Graeme Evans
Published on Monday 30 January 2012 10:48

Ryanair’s profit hopes continued to climb today after December’s benign weather helped the airline deliver a 13 per cent rise in quarterly revenues.

With fewer planes in operation over the winter, longer routes and increasing ticket prices across the industry, Ryanair said its average fare was up by 17 per cent, a figure which includes the impact of passenger luggage fees.

The Dublin-based operator reported better-than-expected profits of about £12.6 million for the three months to 31 December and said the figure for the year to 31 March should now hit about £403.2m.

That is better than the £369.6m predicted in November, which itself represented a £33.6m on its previous estimate.

The quarterly profit compared with a loss of £8.4m a year earlier.

The improvement, which compares with widespread snow closures at airports during the previous December, came despite an 18 per cent rise in fuel costs, which Ryanair said it offset by “aggressively” controlling costs.

However, it is braced for its fuel bill in the next financial year to increase by a further £294m, which it warns will pose a “significant cost challenge”.

It has paid for 90 per cent of its fuel in the first half of the year at around $99 a barrel and at $100 for 70 per cent of the second half.

The airline carried 17 million passengers in the quarter to 31 December, a fall of 2 per cent, but revenues were up 13 per cent to £626.6m.

The company has pulled 80 of its aircraft to reduce winter losses amid the soaring fuel prices and cut traffic by 2 per cent over the quarter.

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