Ryanair's Christmas and new year quarterly profits soar to €211m

The budget carrier said strong pent-up travel demand during October half-term and then over the peak Christmas and new year holiday season, with no adverse impacts from Covid or the war in Ukraine, "stimulated strong traffic and fares across all market".

A 24% year-on-year increase in Q3 traffic to 38.4 million passengers, up 7% versus 2019/20, and a 14% increase in fares compared with pre-Covid levels helped Ryanair to an eventual post-tax profit of €211 million for Q3, up from the €88 million it made during the same period to the end of 2019.

While Ryanair expects Q4 (three months to 31 March 2023) to be loss-making owing to Easter falling in April, chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline remained on course to deliver a stronger post-tax annual profit than previously anticipated of between €1.325 billion and €1.425 billion after upgrading its profit outlook earlier this month.

Full-year traffic, meanwhile, is expected to close at 168 million, barring any unforeseen adverse impacts from Covid and/or the war in Ukraine.