Ryanair price falls easing after summer of declining ticket costs for passengers

Budget airline Ryanair reported that its fare drops have slowed down following a summer of declining ticket prices.

Europe’s largest low-cost airline announced on Monday (4 November) that its after-tax profit for the six months to the end of September ended at €1.79bn (£1.5bn), 18 per cent lower than the same period last year, which saw a profit of €2.18bn (£1.8bn).

While there was a strong growth in passenger traffic of 115m customers, a rise of nine per cent, this was offset by lower air fare.

The Irish airline said its average fare fell by 10 per cent overall, down by 15 per cent in the first quarter and down by seven per cent in the second quarter.

Earlier this year the chief executive, Michael O’Leary, predicted average summer fares would rise by five to 10 per cent, however, the reality delivered very different results as Ryanair saw a price slump over the peak summer months.

“Good news for our passengers, bad news for our shareholders,” O’Leary said in August after his revised price drop prediction.

However, after a summer of airfare decline, Ryanair now reports that the lower prices seem to be moderating.

Mr O’Leary, said: “Forward bookings suggest that the third-quarter demand is strong and the decline in pricing appears to be moderating.”

“We remain cautious on the third-quarter average fare outlook, expecting them to be modestly lower than the third quarter prior year (subject to close-in Christmas and New Year bookings).”

Ryanair’s chief financial officer, Neil Sorahan, told Reuters that fare declines in the quarter ending in December would likely be below five per cent.

The airline also aired its grievances over the delays with their Boeing orders, as the aircraft manufacturer workers’ strike have hindered deliveries.

Ryanair has said it was “sensible to moderate” their traffic growth target for FY26 to 210m passengers rather than their previous 215m to reflect the delivery delays.

However, they continue to target between 198m and 200m passengers in 2025 (+8 per cent), subject to no worsening of current Boeing delivery delays.

Mr O’Leary said on Monday: “While modest delay compensation was received in H1 (mainly maintenance credits) this does not offset the substantial impact of a 5m+ passenger shortfall in FY25 due to these delivery delays.”

Ryanair’s profit…