European budget airline Ryanair Group saw its annual post-tax profit fall by 16 per cent as average fares dropped by 7 per cent.

The Ireland-based company said it achieved a profit after tax of €1.61 billion for the year ending on 31 March 2025 ¨C down from a profit of €1.92 billion in the previous year.

The fall in profitability came despite Ryanair increasing total passenger numbers by 9 per cent year-on-year to surpass the 200 million mark.

Total revenue was also up by 4 per cent to €13.95 billion over the same period, with revenue from ancillaries up by 10 per cent to €4.72 billion ¨C mainly due to the increase in passengers.

Group CEO Michael O¡¯Leary said the airline had to use ¡°repeated price stimulation last year¡±, due to factors such as higher interest rates and inflation impacting consumer spending and ¡°a big drop off¡± in bookings from online travel agencies ahead of the summer 2024 season.

This led to Ryanair¡¯s fares dropping from an average of €50 in the 2023-2024 financial year to €46 last year. The airline said it ¡°cautiously expects to recover most - but not all - of last year¡¯s 7 per cent fare decline¡±.

O¡¯Leary also said that Ryanair¡¯s growth this year would be constrained by continued delays in the delivery of aircraft from Boeing. He added that its traffic is only expected to rise by 3 per cent to 206 million passengers in the current financial year running to 31 March 2026.

¡°We are seeing robust summer 25 travel demand across our network,¡± he added. ¡°This year our constrained capacity growth is being allocated to those regions and airports who are abolishing aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth.¡±

Ryanair said it was introducing more than 160 new routes this summer and would operate a total of 2,600 routes during the season. The airline added that fares in the peak travel period were trending ¡°modestly¡± higher than a year ago.