Ryanair reports Q3 net profit of €15 million; year-to-date profits surge 39% to €2.19 billion

Ryanair Holdings disclosed its Q3 net profit of €15 million, down from the prior year’s €211 million due to higher fuel costs offsetting revenue gains. Despite softer Christmas/New Year loads and yields, the 9-month profits ending December 31, 2023, rose by 39% to €2.19 billion compared to the previous year.

Key highlights include traffic growth of 7%, revenue per passenger up by 9%, and an upgraded MSCI ESG rating to ‘A.’

A Ryanair press release issued today also covers fuel bill increases, fleet updates, board changes, and the airline’s outlook, projecting approximately 183.5 million FY24 traffic despite challenges.

About the fleet, given Boeing’s delivery problems with 737 MAX aircraft, CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“At the end of Q3, Ryanair had taken delivery of 136 B737 Gamechangers. We expect to have up to 174 of these aircraft in our fleet by late June for peak S.24 (+50 from S.23), which would be 7 short of our contracted deliveries. There remains a risk that some of these deliveries could slip further. We have a bumper S.24 schedule on sale with 169 new routes (a total of 2,600 routes), incl. our first 11 domestic routes in Morocco. While travel demand remains high, we expect S.24 EU short-haul capacity to be behind S.23 as competitors ground A320 aircraft in Europe due to the P&W engine issues (and expect these disruptions will run into 2026). We therefore encourage customers to book early on www.ryanair.com to secure the lowest fares for S.24 before they sell out.

We continue to work closely with Boeing to minimise delivery delays and improve quality control in both Wichita and Seattle. While the recent MAX-9 grounding was a disappointing setback, we don’t expect it to affect the MAX-8 fleet or the MAX-10 certification. We visited Seattle in Jan. and met with Boeing senior management. Boeing are increasing their QA resources in Wichita and Seattle. We have run extra checks on our recent B737 deliveries and have noted improvements in quality with fewer delivery defects. However, Boeing have more work to do to improve quality, reduce delivery delays, and we fully support the initiatives that Dave Calhoun (CEO) and Brian West (CFO) are taking to improve Boeing’s performance and production.”