Ryanair will increase air fares after lower ticket prices hit profits

Ryanair said that profit growth this year will depend on overcoming the risk of tariff wars, geopolitical conflicts and macroeconomic shocks. The airline added that it is too early to provide guidance for this year and has no visibility on the second half of the 2026 fiscal year.

The airline ended the fiscal year 2025 with a 16% drop in profits to EUR 1.61 billion, compared to a net profit of EUR 1.92 billion the year before, due to a 7% drop in ticket prices despite traffic growth of 9%, reaching 200 million passengers for the first time from 183.7 million last year. Turnover increased by 4% to EUR 13.95 billion from EUR 13.44 billion last year.

For the summer, the low-cost carrier expects demand to remain strong with fares rising slightly. "While we expect to recover some, but not all, of last year's 7% fare decline, which should result in reasonable net profit growth in FY26, it is too early to provide meaningful guidance," the company said in a statement. The company expects airfares to grow between 4-5% in the second quarter of the fiscal year, CEO Michael O'Leary said during a conference call.

Ryanair recorded a record 200 million passengers in the 12 months, after reducing its previous target of 205 million due to delivery delays by Boeing. The company expects further passenger growth to 206 million in the year to 31 March 2026. On the stock exchange the share is up 2.59 per cent and 20.5 per cent since the beginning of the year.

During a conference call, cfo Michael Neil Sorahan referring to the duties that might be applied to Boeing's expected aircraft, said that 'if we were to see a price increase, we should reserve the right to delay, cancel or buy elsewhere', said the cfo of Ryanair one of Boeing's largest customers.