Ryanair Confident It Will Achieve Planned Profit Despite Lower Ticket Prices

The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair reported on Monday that it will achieve its targeted annual profit despite lower ticket prices, citing a record number of passengers transported as the reason.

Ryanair confirmed that in the financial year ending March 31, it expects a net profit at the upper end of the projected range of €1.175 billion to €1.225 billion.

In early September of last year, the low-cost carrier raised its annual profit forecast by 25 percent, citing poor summer weather in Northern Europe, a weak British pound, and improved service quality for passengers. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris in November and security warnings, they were forced to lower ticket prices by an average of one percent in the last three months of 2015.

In the first three months of this year, prices will be six percent lower, the company states.

– We expect the environment of lower prices to continue in the foreseeable future with a partial respite during the summer months, said CEO Michael O’Leary in a video presentation.

He noted that he expects a positive effect from fuel savings of a “significant” €430 million, which will, however, be offset by an increase in the number of passengers by an additional eight percent in 2016.

In the third fiscal quarter ending in late 2015, the company achieved more than double the profit compared to the same period the previous year, amounting to €103 million. Its revenues increased by 17 percent to €1.33 billion.

Last year, Ryanair was the first airline in the world to transport 100 million passengers on international routes. On Monday, they raised their forecast and now expect to transport 106 million passengers in the financial year, one million more than previously expected.

In the first three months of 2016, they plan to transport 26 percent more passengers than in the same period last year, with O’Leary noting that the current forecast heavily depends on Easter and the assumption that there will be no major terrorist attacks in Europe.