Ryanair has beaten forecasts again after it said third-quarter after-tax profits have risen 50 per cent to €43.20 million.
The low-cost airline said today its planes had been 86 per cent full in the three months to end-December, up from 79 per cent a year earlier, while passenger traffic for the period had rocketed by 46 per cent to 3.9 million.
Revenues rose 37 per cent to €185.90 million, and earnings per share were up 44 per cent to 5.72 cents. Chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary raised his guidance for full-year net profit to €235 million, from €230 million seen previously.
Most analysts had predicted net income of about €40 million for the quarter.
"These are another good set of numbers which result from the disciplined way we are rolling out our low fares all over Europe," Mr O'Leary said in a statement.
He said the airline's results fully justified its recent decision to buy up to 100 new Boeing 737-800 jetliners in a deal valued at up to $6 billion. "This a virtuous cycle of lower costs, lower fares, faster growth and increasing profits," Mr O'Leary said.
Mr O'Leary also defended the company's decision announced last week to buy loss-making KLM no-frills carrier buzz, which, like Ryanair, uses London's Stansted airport as one of its main bases.
He said he expected buzz to become profitable within 12 months as Ryanair worked to double its passenger traffic to four million customers per year.