Ryanair saw its after tax profit for the last three months rocket to around £125 million, up from about £13m the previous year, after resolving its dispute with online travel agencies (OTA).
Annoucing its 2024 third-quarter results, Ryanair admitted its 2023 holiday season had been hit by the OTA boycott.
However, it has since reached partnership deals with most of the major OTAs, including On the Beach, Loveholidays and Kiwi, which it said were now ‘almost fully integrated’.
Its profits were also boosted by an increase in fares for the period from October to December, as more customers booked closer to departure over Christmas and New Year.
The increase of 1% followed a 15% fall in the first three months of Ryanair’s financial year and a 7% drop in the second quarter.
Passenger numbers rose 9% to 45 million, but Ryanair said its growth in 2026 would be lower than expected due to delays in new aircraft deliveries.
It is forecasting it will carry four million passengers fewer than expected due to a delay in new planes arriving from Boeing. However, its traffic will still be up 3% year on year.
Ryanair said it has ‘reallocated this scarce capacity growth’ to regions and airports – mainly Poland, Sweden and Italy – which have reduced or abolished aviation taxes and offer incentives to growth traffic.
In the meantime, there are unconfirmed reports from Denmark that Ryanair plans to close its base at Billund in April due to rising costs and the introduction of a new air passenger tax, which adds about €4 to the cost of a ticket.
If it does close the base, it is likely Ryanair will still fly to the airport, but will no longer base aircraft there.
Also, it announced last week that it is dropping flights to some Spanish cities due to high costs and a lack of incentives.
