Ryanair's record profits help fleet steal business from European rivals

The budget airline is extending leases on 10 jets until 2019 as well as adding “selectively” to its current order with Boeing.

The financial woes of airlines such as Alitalia and Air Berlin are opening up opportunities for growth in several European markets, it says.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary said yesterday: “As legacy competitors in Italy, Germany, Romania and Poland undergo deep restructuring, the scale of our airport growth negotiations is accelerating. We are aware of the need to have additional short-haul aircraft to respond quickly as these unique growth opportunities arise.”

Post-tax profits rose by 6 per cent to £1.14billion despite average fares falling 13 per cent to £35 as it carried 120 million passengers, up 13 per cent on the previous year.

Its planes flew 94 per cent full and costs were reduced by 11 per cent.

Despite predicting a further 5-7 per cent drop in average fares this year due to the weak pound and excess capacity in Europe, it expects 8 per cent higher net profit, while warning investors to be wary of the risk of “negative Brexit developments, or any repeat of last year’s security events at European cities, which could damage consumer confidence”.

Ryanair said its record traffic and planes flying closer to capacity reflected its investment in its owned and managed IT services.

O’Leary said: “While many competitors subcontract their IT development to high cost third parties, in Ryanair we believe the success of [digital hub] Labs has vindicated our decision to manage and control this development internally, while rolling out high-quality, proprietary, mobile and web platforms.”

“Improvements in our website and mobile technology has boosted ancillary revenue, by making it easier for customers to choose travel-related services.”

He warned a “hard” Brexit could cause significant disruption to UK/EU flights for a period of months after March 2019, adding Ryanair would continue to pivot its growth away from the UK.