Ryanair posted a net profit of 1.72 billion euros in the second quarter of this fiscal year, an increase of 20% compared to the same period last year. The higher profit was due to more expensive ticket prices. The Irish low-cost airline also expects passenger numbers to grow faster than expected this year.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, was forced to lower prices a year earlier to fill its flights. But the company “has fully recovered the 7% reduction in fares during the second quarter of last year,” according to CEO Michael O’Leary.
In the first quarter, Ryanair already made a net profit of 820 million euros. After half a booking year, the company has achieved a net profit of 2,54 billion euros. Ryanair says it “expects reasonable growth in net profit for the 2026 fiscal year,” but warns that this will depend heavily on holiday bookings.
Nearly 100 million additional passengers by 2034
Nevertheless, Ryanair is revising its traffic forecast for the full year 2026 upward, thanks in part to earlier-than-expected deliveries of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft – it now has 204 MAX aircraft in its fleet of 641. It expects to carry up to 207 million passengers, an increase of 3% from the 206 million previously forecast. The company aims to reach 300 million passengers by 2034.
‘EU is failing on competitiveness’
Ryanair has also put pressure on the governments of several European countries in recent months by reducing flights to these destinations. It did so in response to excessive taxes on the sector.
O’Leary prefers “regions and airports that reduce our taxes and encourage traffic growth, such as Sweden, Slovakia, Italy, Albania, and Morocco,” to the detriment of “expensive and uncompetitive markets such as Germany, Austria, and regional routes in Spain.”
Belgium is not mentioned, but the company has one of its most important bases on the European mainland in Charleroi, with more than 80 destinations.
At Brussels South Charleroi Airport, landing and handling costs are much lower than at Brussels Airport thanks to subsidies and favorable conditions for Ryanair. According to some sources, airport costs — including landing fees, passenger charges, handling fees, and navigation costs — are up to 50% lower in Charleroi than in Zaventem.
The Walloon government owns the airport through SOWAER. Still, at present, no real growth is possible as long as no investments are made under the past plan, which aims to increase passenger numbers from 10.5 million to 16 million by 2041.
