London, United Kingdom— Ryanair on Monday posted its largest ever after-tax profit for the first half of its financial year, which includes the key summer months, and said it hoped to post a profit of at least 1 billion euros for its full financial year.
The Irish airline, Europe’s largest by passenger numbers, said it had earned 1.371 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in the six months to the end of September.
The airline recorded bumper profit in its first half as the aviation sector recovers following the lifting of Covid travel restrictions.
“The recovery for the remainder of full-year 2022/23 remains fragile and could yet be impacted by new Covid variants or adverse geopolitical events such as Ukraine,” Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said in the statement.
“However forward bookings, both traffic and fares, remain strong… into the peak Christmas travel period.”
O’Leary said he hoped the sector would avoid a repeat of last year’s lockdowns caused by Covid’s Omicron variant “which damaged last Christmas at such short notice”.
He added that “concerns about the impact of recession and rising consumer price inflation on Ryanair’s business model have been greatly exaggerated”.
O’Leary said he expects the airline “to grow strongly in a recession as consumers won’t stop flying, but rather they will become more price sensitive”.
Ryanair said it flew 95 million passengers in its first half, up from 39 million one year earlier.