Ryanair ended its 2025/2026 financial year with a record profit after tax of €2.26 billion, excluding exceptional items, which represents a 40 percent increase compared with the previous year. Europe’s largest low-cost carrier carried 208.4 million passengers during the same period, four percent more than a year earlier, despite delays in the delivery of Boeing aircraft.
The group’s total revenue rose 11 percent to €15.54 billion. Scheduled revenue increased 14 percent to €10.56 billion, mainly due to traffic growth and higher fares. Ryanair says average fares rose by ten percent, recovering the decline recorded in the previous year. Ancillary revenue, generated from baggage, seat selection and other add-on services, reached €4.99 billion, or around €24 per passenger.
Operating costs, excluding exceptional items, increased six percent to €13.09 billion, while the cost per passenger rose by one percent. The results also include an exceptional provision of €85 million related to a fine imposed by the Italian regulator AGCM, which Ryanair is contesting and expects to have overturned on appeal.
The company’s management highlighted that the group’s financial position remains strong. At the end of March, Ryanair had €3.6 billion in cash, after €1.9 billion in capital expenditure, €1.2 billion in debt repayments and more than €900 million in shareholder distributions. Net cash stood at €2.1 billion, while the company plans to repay its final €1.2 billion bond, which would leave the group effectively debt-free.
Ryanair ended the financial year with a fleet of 647 aircraft, including all 210 Boeing 737-8200 “Gamechanger” aircraft. According to the company, this fleet should support further traffic growth to around 216 million passengers in the 2026/2027 financial year. Boeing, Ryanair says, expects certification of the MAX 10 in late summer 2026, with the first 15 aircraft for Ryanair due to arrive in spring 2027.
The airline is also continuing major investment in maintenance. Following the earlier purchase of 30 new CFM LEAP-1B engines, Ryanair has signed a multi-year agreement to purchase CFM parts for both CFM56-7B and LEAP-1B engines. This supports the development of two in-house engine maintenance facilities, the first of which is expected to become operational in early 2029, with the second planned for the early 2030s. The aim is to further reduce maintenance costs and widen the gap over competitors.
Despite the strong results, Ryanair warned of an unstable market environment. The conflict in the Middle East has caused a sharp increase in jet fuel prices, with the company saying spot prices have risen above $150 per barrel. Ryanair has hedged around 80 percent of its fuel requirements for the 2026/2027 financial year at approximately $67 per barrel, which should help reduce the impact of higher prices on its business. However, the remaining 20 percent remains exposed to market volatility.
The company expects European short-haul capacity to remain constrained until at least 2030. It cites delivery delays at the major aircraft manufacturers, Pratt & Whitney engine repair delays, consolidation in the European airline market and capacity reductions by carriers that are particularly exposed to rising fuel prices. Ryanair believes this environment, combined with its low costs and strong balance sheet, creates room for further growth toward more than 300 million passengers per year by the 2033/2034 financial year.
In the new financial year, Ryanair will allocate capacity growth to markets and airports that reduce aviation taxes and incentivise traffic growth. The airline cites Albania, Italy, Morocco, Slovakia and Sweden as examples. At the same time, Ryanair says it will move flights away from what it describes as uncompetitive high-tax markets, including Austria, Belgium, Germany and regional airports in Spain.
For the summer 2026 season, the carrier has 130 new routes on sale, including new bases in Rabat, Tirana and Trapani. Demand, according to the company, remains robust, although passengers are booking closer to their travel date than last year, reducing revenue visibility for the remainder of the year.
Ryanair is not currently providing profit guidance for the 2026/2027 financial year. Due to the high level of uncertainty surrounding fuel prices, possible supply disruptions, the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, macroeconomic risks, as well as strikes and mismanagement in European air traffic control, management believes it is too early to give a concrete forecast. The company expects to provide a clearer picture of fares and fuel costs in late July, when it publishes its first-quarter results.
Ryanair also confirmed that talks on extending Chief Executive Michael O’Leary’s contract are nearly concluded. His current contract runs until 2028, while a new agreement could keep him at the head of the group until April 2032. The proposed package also includes an option to purchase ten million shares, but only if very ambitious profit or share price growth targets are achieved.
