Ryanair Holdings, the Irish budget airline, announced a decline in adjusted profit after tax for the third quarter, largely due to increased fuel expenses. Despite the company’s revenue gains, the impact of rising fuel costs resulted in adjusted post-tax profit reaching 15 million euros ($16.3 million). In comparison, the profit for the same period last year stood at 211 million euros.
The total revenue for the quarter ending on December 31 was recorded at 2.70 billion euros, significantly higher than the 2.31 billion euros generated during the same period the previous year. Ryanair experienced a 9% increase in revenue per passenger and a 2% rise in ancillary revenue to approximately 23 euros. Moreover, average fares saw a significant boost of 13%, surpassing 42 euros.
Ryanair carried 41.4 million passengers during the quarter, marking an increase from the previous year’s figure of 38.4 million passengers. However, load factor, a measure of airplane occupancy, declined by one percentage point to 92% during this period.
The company has adjusted its profit after tax guidance for the year and now expects it to range between 1.85 billion euros and 1.95 billion euros, as opposed to the previous estimate of 1.85 billion euros to 2.05 billion euros. Ryanair attributes this adjustment to weaker load factors and yields during the late third quarter and early fourth quarter, despite the benefit of Easter traffic falling in late March.