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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.
Europeโs 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 OโLeary is closing in on share options worth about โฌ100mn if the airlineโs share price hits โฌ21 for 28 days.
Shares have staged a recent rally and have been above โฌ21 since May 2.
OโLeary blamed problems at Boeing for the slower growth but said Ryanair was โworking closely with the US manufacturer to accelerate deliveriesโ.
Ryanair, Boeingโs 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, OโLeary said he was โincreasingly confidentโ that Boeing would deliver the remaining 29 short-haul 737-8 aircraft โwell aheadโ of summer 2026, allowing Ryanair to โcatch upโ on the missed growth. The airline eventually plans to carry 300mn people a year by 2034.
Ryanair reported profit after tax of โฌ1.6bn for the 12 months to March 2025, a 16 per cent fall on the previous year but at the higher end of analystsโ 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 โconsumer spending pressureโ 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.
OโLeary said the airline had seen โrobustโ demand for travel this summer and that ticket prices were โtrending modestly aheadโ of 2024.
The airline announced a โฌ750mn share buyback on Monday.
