Ryanair H1 profits up 42pc on record traffic, higher fares

(Sharecast News) - Budget airline Ryanair said on Monday that interim profits had grown 42%, driven by record traffic growth and rising fares.

Ryanair said post-tax profits had improved from �1.79bn in H125 to �2.54bn in H126, as traffic grew 3% to a record 119m passengers, while fares rose 13% to approximately �58 due to a strong Easter trading performance, weak prior-year comparatives and second-quarter fare recovery.

Revenues were up 13% at �8.96bn, with scheduled revenues up 16% to �6.91bn and ancillary revenues up 6% to �2.91bn.

Operating expenses rose by 4% to �6.96bn, while gross cash at the end of September was �3bn, and net cash was over �1.5bn.

Q2 post-tax profits were up 20% at �1.43bn, while revenues were 8% stronger at �5.07bn.

Ryanair also declared an interim dividend of �0.193 per share, payable in February 2026.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said: "FY26 traffic is now expected to grow by more than 3% to 207m passengers (previously 206m), due to earlier than expected Boeing deliveries and strong H1 demand. Unit costs performed well in H1 and, as previously guided, we expect only modest FY26 unit cost inflation as our B-8200 deliveries, fuel hedging and effective cost control across the group helps offset increased ATC charges, higher enviro. costs and the roll-off of last years modest delivery delay compensation. While Q3 forward bookings are slightly ahead of PY, particularly across the Oct. mid-term and Christmas peaks, we would caution that we face more challenging PY fare comps in H2 making fare growth more challenging.

"It remains too early to provide meaningful FY26 PAT guidance. We do, however, cautiously expect to recover all of last years 7% full-year fare decline, which should lead to reasonable net profit growth in FY26. The final FY26 outcome remains exposed to adverse external developments, incl. conflict escalation in Ukraine and the Mid. East, macro-economic shocks and any further impact of repeated European ATC strikes & mismanagement"

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com