Ryanair posts solid jump in profits

For the 12 months to March 31

Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair booked a record €1.45bn (£1.26bn) profit after tax in its financial year to March 31, up 10 per cent year-on-year.

The airline’s revenues for the period also climbed 8 per cent despite it cancelling thousands of flights last September due to ‘rostering management failure’.

“Our outlook for FY19 is on the pessimistic side of cautious,” Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said in a statement, adding: “Forward bookings are strong but pricing remains soft. While still too early to accurately forecast close-in summer bookings or H2 fares, we are cautiously guiding broadly flat average fares for FY19.”

Ryanair had cancelled 20,000 flights last year, affecting 700,000 passengers globally.