Ryanair cuts traffic forecasts amid aircraft delivery delays, despite soaring profits

Europe's largest airline, Ryanair, saw its profits after tax surge to €663 million during the company’s first financial quarter of 2023, nearly quadrupling over the previous year. However, it expected fewer passengers than it originally forecasted due to delays in the delivery of new aircraft.

The airline's first financial quarter covers the months of April, May, and June due to its financial year ending in March.

By the end of June 2023, the airline flew 50.4 million customers, which generated a total of €3.65 billion in revenues, an improvement of over a billion from the previous year.

The improvement was largely attributed to a relatively weaker 2022, which was impacted by significant disruptions in the industry and fuel prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and due to strong demand during the Easter season of 2023.

While revenues increased by 40 per cent, operating costs only increased by 23 per cent to €2.94 billion.

The airline is also operating its largest summer schedule yet, covering over 3,200 flights which are capable of transporting up to 600,000 passengers on a daily basis.

“European airlines will continue to consolidate over the next two to three years, with the takeover of ITA (Italy) and the sale of TAP (Portugal) already underway,” read the airline’s report.

Lufthansa Group had announced that it reached an agreement in May to acquire a 41 per cent stake in ITA, with the option to acquire the remaining shares at a future date. Meanwhile the Government of Portugal announced that its national carrier will be privatised by 2024.

Malta's own national carrier is also anticipating changes, with Air Malta expected to be replaced by a new national airline by the end of the year in a similar way to when ITA replaced Alitalia.

Looking forward, Ryanair expected traffic to grow to 183.5 million by the end of its financial year in 2024, a nine per cent increase year-on-year. However, this is a lower expectation than its original forecast of 185 million, due to delivery delays for aircraft from Boeing.