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Ryanair has warned its growth will slow this year because of delayed deliveries of Boeing aircraft, as it reported a fall in profits because of lower ticket prices last year.
Europe’s largest low-cost airline on Monday forecast that passenger numbers would increase 3 per cent to 203mn by March 2026, well behind its original 215mn target, which it has repeatedly lowered.
Despite the challenges, chief executive Michael O’Leary is closing in on share options worth about €100mn if the airline’s share price hits €21 for 28 days.
Shares have staged a recent rally and have been above €21 since May 2.
O’Leary blamed problems at Boeing for the slower growth but said Ryanair was “working closely with the US manufacturer to accelerate deliveries”.
Ryanair, Boeing’s largest customer in Europe, has endured repeated delays to its ambitious growth plans because of the crisis at the US manufacturer, which has suffered a damaging strike and has had to slow production lines to improve manufacturing processes.
However, O’Leary said he was “increasingly confident” that Boeing would deliver the remaining 29 short-haul 737-8 aircraft “well ahead” of summer 2026, allowing Ryanair to “catch up” on the missed growth. The airline eventually plans to carry 300mn people a year by 2034.
Ryanair reported profit after tax of €1.6bn for the 12 months to March 2025, a 16 per cent fall on the previous year but at the higher end of analysts’ expectations.
The airline put the decline down to a 7 per cent fall in average air fares because of a slowdown in bookings from online travel agents. It also cited “consumer spending pressure” and the busy Easter period falling after the end of its 2025 fiscal year.
Many large online travel agents abruptly decided to stop selling Ryanair flights at the end of 2023, following years of tensions and legal disputes. Ryanair has since signed deals to sell its flights through many of the agents.
O’Leary said the airline had seen “robust” demand for travel this summer and that ticket prices were “trending modestly ahead” of 2024.
The airline announced a €750mn share buyback on Monday.
