Ryanair profits soar on soggy weather and cheap fuel

Ryanair reported soaring half-year after tax profits of €1.1bn (£800m, $1.2bn), up 37% thanks to poor weather over the summer driving customers to seek sunnier climes. Ryanair's revenues rose by 14% to €4.04bn, an increase of €503m on the first half of last year.

The budget carrier's customer levels rose by 13%, up to 58.1 million, compared with the same period last year. The cheap and cheerful airline took the opportunity to trumpet news that in July this year it became the first EU airline to carry 10 million passengers in one month.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said: "We are pleased to report this strong set of H1 results. We have enjoyed a bumper summer due to a very rare confluence of favourable events including stronger sterling, adverse weather in northern Europe, reasonably flat industry capacity and further savings on our unhedged fuel, as millions of customers switched to Ryanair for our Always Getting Better ('AGB') customer experience programme."

The company also revealed plans to open four new bases in Berlin, Corfu, Gothenburg and Milan. further expansion included 119 new routes including a four times daily Dublin to Amsterdam route.

Ryanair said it expects current growth levels to continue in Ireland, UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Denmark.

O'Leary said the plan was to pass on savings to customers "in the form of lower airfares particularly as we grow capacity quickly in major markets such as Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK in 2016".

Connor Campbell, market analyst at www.spreadex.com, told IBTimes: "Ryanair posted some first class figures this Monday, with a 13% rise in passengers leading the airline to a 37% increase in half-yearly profit and a 14% jump in revenue. However, the stock became a victim of its own success this morning, with a wave of profit-taking taking Ryanair 1% lower just as the company was eyeing fresh all-time highs."