Ryanair’s latest half-year profits
have risen 15 per cent after the airline enjoyed a big increase in passenger
numbers.
The Irish carrier made a pre-tax
profit of $674 million in the six months to 30 September, up from $582 million
a year earlier.
Passenger numbers for the six
months totalled 40.1 million, a 10 per cent increase on last year, while
Ryanair’s revenues were up 23 per cent to $3.1 billion.
The results come after the airline
pulled out of Belfast City Airport at the weekend following a row over delays
to a proposed runway extension.
Ryanair first announced that it
would be leaving the airport in August, after a public inquiry into the plans –
which it supports – was delayed.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary
said the airline’s latest increase in profits was “testimony to the
robustness” of its business model.
The carrier said its costs for the
six months increased by 13 per cent, or 4 per cent excluding fuel. Its fuel
bill rose by 44 per cent to $917 million.
Meanwhile, its ticket prices rose
by an average 12 per cent.
Ryanair said that the strikes this
year by air traffic control staff in Belgium, France and Spain had required it
to cancel 3,000 flights, but it did not give a figure for the cost to the business.
In Spain, it said it had overtaken
Iberia to become the largest airline – by passenger numbers – operating from
Spanish airports.
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